“That forced me to wake up and train harder”- UFC Hall of Famer Ken Shamrock credits Royce Gracie for inspiring him to become a better well-rounded fighter
Ken Shamrock and Royce Gracie have played an important role in the UFC gaining popularity in the ‘90s. ‘The World’s Most Dangerous Man’ carried over his Pancrase style of fighting to the octagon, while Gracie proved that Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (specifically Gracie Jiu-Jitsu) was effective and could be used to defeat larger opponents.
Shamrock spoke with VladTV about the first UFC event, and that he didn’t take the Brazilian seriously. That soon changed as they met in the semi-finals of the tournament, which saw Gracie submit the former King of Pancrase via rear-naked choke in 52 seconds.
Shamrock described his reaction to the loss and mentioned that it motivated him to become a better fighter:
“I was talking with Royce (Gracie) a couple of nights ago and I remember saying to him, ‘that was the one instant where it forced me to wake up and train harder and start being I guess more towards my craft, and figuring out more disciplines rather than staying in one thing.’ Because when we were in Japan, we just did the Pancrase style and I wasn’t looking outside of that. But there was a whole other world out there besides what I was doing cause I thought that was it. So it really opened up my eyes to really train better, become a better fighter and train better at different crafts, and learn more things rather than being focused on one thing.”
'The World's Most Dangerous Man' also reflected on his first impressions of the UFC 1 tournament winner:
“When I first got in there, I was sizing everybody up and Royce (Gracie) was walking around in his Gi. And I was thinking to myself, ‘man, this guy looks like he’s walking around in his pyjamas,’ and it was almost like you couldn’t take him seriously and he looked like a boy. He looked like a teenage boy and he was small. I think I went 190-195(lbs) at the time and I think he was 170-180(lbs) something like that."
Ken Shamrock and Royce Gracie were inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame on the same night
Nov21.2003
16 years ago today,
Ken Shamrock & Royce Gracie became the first fighters to be inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame https://t.co/PbZejbuqGf
Ken Shamrock and Royce Gracie not only competed in the first UFC event, but were also the first ever inductees into the UFC Hall of Fame.
UFC President Dana White held the ceremony inside the octagon during UFC 45 and had both Shamrock and Gracie enter the octagon, where they spoke briefly and received their Hall of Fame awards.
‘The World’s Most Dangerous Man’s career accomplishments included being the first UFC Superfight champion, King of Pancrase champion, King of Pancrase tournament winner, and 2000 Pride Grand Prix superfight winner. Gracie, on the other hand, was the first and only fighter to be a three-time UFC tournament winner.