5 UFC fights that will put you to sleep
Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) is a sport that’s high on entertainment and action. However, just like every other thing in this world, it isn’t perfect. From time to time, our Sport witnesses terrible and awkward performances from our beloved MMA fighters.
The UFC being the world’s premier MMA promotion is no different. Let’s take a look at a few such unintentionally funny and downright horrendous UFC matchups that bored the fans out of their minds:
#5 Ken Shamrock vs Royce Gracie 2 – The World’s Most Dangerous Boring Fight
‘The World’s Most Dangerous Man’ Ken Shamrock (28-17-2) is an MMA legend, UFC Hall-of-Famer and current Bellator star, holding a list of accomplishments ranging from championships in Pride FC and Pancrase to being the 1st UFC Superweight (now defunct) champion; with an MMA base of Catch Wrestling and Shootfighting.
Royce Gracie (15-2-3) is one of the early pioneers of the sport of MMA and one of the founders of the UFC. Gracie is the UFC 1, 2 and 4 tournament champion, with an MMA base of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ).
Shamrock fought Gracie in a trilogy of fights, getting submitted by Gracie in the 1st fight at UFC 1 in 1993; fighting to a draw at UFC 5 in 1995 and at Bellator 149 in February of 2016.
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The 2nd fight in the Shamrock-Gracie series holds the record for the longest fight in UFC history at 36 minutes, a (non) fight that is considered to be one of the most boring fights of all time.
At the time of their UFC 5 rematch, Royce Gracie was the UFC’s poster boy, marketed as the lean-mean-submission machine, renowned for submitting larger wrestlers. Ken Shamrock had been a brute of a man and a fighter who relied on muscling his opponents to the mat and working to submit them from there.
Coming into the rematch, Shamrock was so petrified of the BJJ savant that he resorted to a non-stop lay-and-pray strategy-taking down his lighter opponent and laying on top of him in an attempt to tire him out.
The game plan failed miserably and the fight comprised of a terrified Shamrock laying on top of Gracie for the better part of 36 minutes. The crowd showered the fighters with boos, deservedly so, and owing to the absence of MMA judges in that era, Shamrock-Gracie 2 was declared a draw.
Ken Shamrock’s 36-minute Lay-And-Pray Master-class against Royce Gracie is rightfully known as the World’s Most Boring Fight.