Gracie vs. Shamrock 3 and the 10 Biggest Freak-Show Fights in MMA History
There's probably a nicer way to put it than "freak show," but not a whole lot nicer.
There are probably also nicer ways to make a buck, particularly for older guys who poured the foundation of modern MMA.
And yet, here we are. Whether motivated by financial security, a final quaff of notoriety, a strategy for seat butts and TV eyeballs, a last grasp at score-settling or something else or all of it or none of it, freak-show fights—which, in case it's not self-explanatory, tend to feature wild contrasts in style or size, over-the-hill legends and/or unpolished, if somehow charismatic, competitors—seem to be in MMA's DNA.
Just look at UFC 1. No weight classes. Virtually no rules. Sumo vs. kung-fu. That thing was all freak show.
A strain of that—sometimes entertaining, sometimes sad, sometimes gross, sometimes compelling, sometimes all of it—has persisted throughout the years and the evolution of the sport.
And now, it gives me nothing but the purest pleasure to observe that we are ensconced in a new freak-show golden age. That's thanks to Bellator, the promotion that under Scott Coker has crafted several freak-show matchups as one way of matching swords with the monolithic UFC.
On Friday, it happens again with Bellator 149, which is headlined by a trilogy matchup between UFC 1-and-then-some champion Royce Gracie (49) and inaugural UFC Superfight champion Ken Shamrock (52). Combined age? One hundred and one. The last time they fought each other? 1995.
Oh, but that's not all. Knockout artist Kimbo Slice takes on fellow backyard fighting legend Dada 5000 in the evening's co-main event. Double your fun.
To honor the occasion, let us now look at the top 10 freak-show fights in MMA history. They are ranked based on the prominence of the competitors and the degree to which the fight was a freak show. Were the combatants really old? Did they weigh a lot? That's going to "weigh" in their favor on the freak-show scale.
Got it? Great. Step right up.
Honorable Mentions
1 of 11
Here they are, listed in no particular order:
- Anything involving Bob Sapp
- Ikuhisa Minowa vs. Eric "Butterbean" Esch
- Eric "Butterbean" Esch vs. Zuluzinho
- Keith Hackney vs. Emmanuel Yarbrough
- Kimbo Slice vs. Tank Abbott
- Royce Gracie vs. Matt Hughes
- Herschel Walker vs. Greg Nagy
- Gerard Gordeau vs. Teila Tuli
- Paulo Cesar "Giant" Silva vs. Akebono Taro
- Anything involving Mariusz Pudzianowski
10. Randy Couture vs. James Toney
2 of 11
Date: August 28, 2010
Event: UFC 118
Result: Randy Couture def. James Toney by submission (arm-triangle choke), 3:19, Rd. 1
The UFC is not above these things (see Punk, CM), even if business tastes dictate that it doesn't indulge quite as often as others.
This was Couture's second-to-last fight as an MMA professional (at least to date). Even though he was 47 years old at the time, his well-established Ageless Wonder status gave this one at least a patina of legitimacy.
Toney, meanwhile, was 42 at the time but still a former champion boxer, and he was all too happy to take a payday for essentially poking the MMA community in its soft spot: that boxing was objectively the better sport.
Keep in mind, also, that this fight came about not long after former UFC heavyweight champ Tim Sylvia's loss in an MMA fight to ex-boxer Ray Mercer. So the wounds were fresh, as it were.
Before the fight, Toney said this of Couture and the matchup, per MMA Fighting (h/t Cage Potato):
"He's pretty good for a girl. He’s got the balls to fight me but there’s no MMA fighter who has the balls to trade punches with me. If they do, it’s suicide. If Randy tries to grab me I’ll hit him so hard his grandparents will feel it. I keep reminding everybody, the fight starts standing up...After I knock out Randy Couture I plan on coming back and fighting in October and then hopefully I’d fight Brock Lesnar in the New Year...I’m the heavyweight champion of the IBA so why can’t I be the UFC heavyweight champion?
"
Some of this bout's perceived legitimacy was willingly conferred by hardcore MMA fans, who wanted to see Captain America shut Toney's mouth and strike a metaphorical blow in the boxing vs. MMA debate.
To his credit, Couture did his part, taking Toney down with ease and finishing the fight inside the first round.
9. Fedor Emelianenko vs. Zuluzinho
3 of 11Date: December 31, 2005
Event: Pride Shockwave 2005
Result: Fedor Emelianenko def. Zuluzinho by submission (punches), 0:26, Rd. 1
New Year's Eve in Japan is like the Stonehenge of MMA freak-show fights. It has mysterious magnetism. Unexplained—perhaps inexplicable—power.
That goes for rounds, too. Notice the round in which each of the 10 fights on this list, each and every one of them, ends.
In any case, though not as well-known as some of his other fights, freak and non-freak divisions, this is probably the most egregiously freakish in Emelianenko's career, which for all its glory and success also saw plenty of carny knowledge.
The heavyweight GOAT went out and finished the massive Brazilian Vale Tudo bulldozer in less than 30 seconds, when Zuluzinho tapped out to punches.
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8. Kimbo Slice vs. Dada 5000
4 of 11
Date: February 19, 2016
Event: Bellator 149
Result: TBD
Dada 5000, also known by government name Dhafir Harris, is 38 years old. Famed as the king of Miami's underground street fighting scene—the same scene that spawned Slice (42)—he has competed twice as a pro MMA fighter (earning knockouts each time) but hasn't done so since 2011.
Slice is trying to make it two in a row after besting none other than Ken Shamrock last June. That was Slice's first pro fight since 2010.
It's hard to fully score this one until it happens, but given their backgrounds, combined age (80) and record (7-2), this one definitely qualifies just on paper.
7. Royce Gracie vs. Ken Shamrock 3
5 of 11
Date: February 19, 2016
Event: Bellator 149
Result: TBD
Now you see what a renaissance we're living in, vis a vis the freak shows.
Yes, Gracie and Shamrock are both legends of the sport. But when it comes to MMA freak-show fights, they're on a whole different level. This is Bill Russell and Michael Jordan. They've been slaying all comers for years.
So let's not drown our sorrows under a bed of fig leaves. Their combined age is in the triple digits, so they know what they're doing. Maybe we can do our best to enjoy it and just hope no one gets any more embarrassed than our entertainment deems necessary.
6. Tim Sylvia vs. Ray Mercer
6 of 11Date: June 13, 2009
Event: Adrenaline MMA 3
Result: Ray Mercer def. Tim Sylvia by KO, 0:09, Rd. 1
We mentioned this one a couple of slides ago. Sylvia was on hard times and needed a fight.
But you know what? It didn't go his way. Ray Mercer won. He won! In nine seconds!
That is not how Sylvia drew this one up. But hey, he got caught by a guy with 26 knockouts as a professional boxer.
Was it freakish? Yeah. Embarrassing? Yes, especially in a time when MMA was straining so hard to emerge from boxing's shadow. Have stranger things happened? Yes, they have.
5. Kimbo Slice vs. Ken Shamrock
7 of 11
Date: June 19, 2015
Event: Bellator 138
Result: Kimbo Slice def. Ken Shamrock by KO, 2:22, Rd. 1
This is the one that restarted the momentum.
But Bellator matchmakers can't take all the credit for this one. The now-defunct EliteXC promotion tried to make this match back in 2008, only for Shamrock to pull out of the fight with a cut and watch his late replacement, Seth Petruzelli, knock Slice out in 14 seconds on CBS. And not CBS Sports Network or anything like that. Actual CBS.
So all Bellator matchmakers did was add seven years to the equation and finish the unfinished business. Slice took it from there, using the athletic advantage found in his spry 41-year-old frame to knock out 51-year-old Shamrock in the first round.
“I’m a big believer in the idea that conversation is what gets people to the TV, whether they think it’s a good fight or a bad fight,” Kevin Kay, president of Spike TV, which airs Bellator, told Steven Marrocco of MMA Junkie prior to the bout.
Kay is smart, and he is right. The event shattered the previous Bellator ratings record by 27 percent, with more than 2 million viewers at its highest point. Let the new freak-show era begin.
4. Ikuhisa Minowa vs. Giant Silva
8 of 11Date: April 2, 2006
Event: Pride Bushido 10
Result: Ikuhisa Minowa def. Paulo Cesar "Giant" da Silva by TKO, 2:23, Rd. 1
Ikuhisa Minowa is a true freak-show fight artist. The seemingly fearless fighter and pro wrestler, who naturally competes at middleweight, has faced other carnival greats such as Zuluzinho, Kimo Leopoldo, Eric "Butterbean" Esch, Hong-Man Choi and Don Frye.
You could even consider this a lifetime achievement award of sorts for the Minowaman.
For a trained professional, defeating the 7'2", 385-pound Giant Silva was easier in deed than in thought. All you had to do was avoid the giant's kimura—uh, ouch—and that was that.
Even so, give it up for this, the apex of the Minowaman's MMA freak art.
3. Royce Gracie vs. Akebono Taro
9 of 11
Date: December 31, 2004
Event: K-1 Premium 20014 Dynamite
Result: Royce Gracie def. Akebono Taro by submission (omoplata), 2:13, Rd. 1
In its way, UFC 1 was an unmitigated novelty. The Gracie family famously created that watershed event to showcase the power of the Brazilian jiu-jitsu martial art it pioneered and then later walked away from the concept when it took on a more structured and less, shall we say, free-spirited aesthetic.
Clearly, the historic family and its fighting members are not afraid of a little curiosity. In the MMA freak-show category, this might be their crowning achievement.
Royce Gracie, then 38 years old, had not competed since the previous New Year's Eve (there's that date again). In Osaka, Japan, he finished one of MMA's great freak-show fighters in ex-sumo champ Akebono in the first round (there's that round again).
Gracie came back for more, notably with Matt Hughes and now Shamrock. But he'll be hard-pressed to top this little gem.
2. Fedor Emelianenko vs. Hong-Man Choi
10 of 11Date: December 31, 2007
Event: Yarennoka
Result: Fedor Emelianenko def. Hong-Man Choi by submission (armbar), 1:54, Rd. 1
In a way, this was a career-defining fight for Emelianenko. Just maybe not in the way he or his fans would want.
Fairly or not, his fight with 7'1" Hong-Man Choi is, to this day, a prime piece of evidence in the case against Fedor as the heavyweight GOAT. Look at the competition he faced, his opponents claim. The most prominent statement of support in that case—alongside the fact that he has never competed for the UFC—is this bout with Hong-Man Choi, which ended with Fedor wrapping up an armbar submission, but in so doing hanging from Choi's arm like a parasite.
Never mind that Emelianenko vanquished some of the very best heavyweights of his time. Never mind that Choi was actually not a bad kickboxer. The visual was just too much to overcome.
1. Jose Canseco vs. Hong-Man Choi
11 of 11Date: May 26, 2009
Event: Dream 9
Result: Hong-Man Choi def. Jose Canseco by submission (punches), 1:17, Rd. 1
There are a few time-honored tools of the freak-show fight hunter. One of them is to look for the "submission (punches)." For wherein lies that distinction, so, too, may a freak-show fight lay its own head. So be watchful.
Another tool? Look for Jose Canseco. You know, the former baseball player who outed himself and a bunch of other players for steroid use. He carried a bat with him into the cage, just so people wouldn't forget.
Sadly for Canseco, who was 44 years old at the time, he was not allowed to use the bat as a weapon. He ran from Choi for most of the fight, until the big kickboxer finally caught up to him and elicited that fateful tapout.
Even more sadly, it was the only MMA appearance to date for Canseco, at least according to his Sherdog fighter record. Maybe one day, though, we'll get that Jose Canseco vs. Shaquille O'Neal grudge match, and this list will have a new No. 1.
Scott Harris writes about MMA and other stuff for Bleacher Report. For more on freak shows, if you dare, follow Scott on Twitter.
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