Top 35 Ken Shamrock Quotes

I’ve been very fortunate to be at the startup of a lot of different things. I was the startup of the Pancrase organization in Japan. Became a big figure over there. Then I was in the UFC and was at the startup of that, and I was a big figure in that. Twice. Not only in the beginning but also when it was taken over.

I’m gonna write a book. I’m going to explain over the past 30 years of my life of things that I endured and what I went through. And when I do, I promise you with everything that I am that people will not believe me. But I have factual proof of everything that has happened to me, and I have been able to overcome.

I just found at a young age that I really wanted to be more competitive.

After several different marriages and failures, my mom started turning to the Lord. So she brought us to church. We got involved with the youth programs, and I got on fire a couple months in, like, ‘Wow, this feels good.’ At 10 years old, you don’t know. It felt good.

No matter how tough you are or how much willpower or determination you have, if there’s something wrong with your body, it’s going to shut down and stop. It’s good to have those qualities, but it’s important to know what you’re pushing against.

I learned a long time ago that you need to bury the hatchet. No need to hold grudges. That only weighs you down.

I want the ankle match with Kurt Angle… or I want Brock to see who is the best from MMA and pro wrestling.

Promoters do bigger numbers when Ken Shamrock’s name is on the card.

I’m a warrior at heart. A lot of other people do it for money, or they want stardom and fame because they want to be famous or they just want to be on TV, and they just happen to have the skills to be a good fighter.

I’m not Ken Shamrock the MMA World Champion No Holds Barred fighter. I’m Ken Shamrock, The World’s Most Dangerous Man. Professional wrestling and MMA champion.

From early on in my career, I was always challenged to create things. Early in my career, I created ‘ground and pound.’ When I fought Royce Grace the second time, I developed that: stay on guard, follow the hips, press the legs down, press the hips down. When he rested, I ground and pounded him.

Bellator offered me a job. UFC never offered me an opportunity to fight. There’s no question that UFC is the top. It’s a machine. A lot of people, including myself, have helped build the UFC to where it is today.

A lot of times, the fans aren’t listened to, or their opinions are overlooked a lot.

When I’m fighting, it’s not only going to be for the fans. It’s going to be for God.

Everybody knows how to get prepared for an MMA fight. Everybody knows what the other person is going to do. Whereas when I did it, MMA was really style against style. Things you hadn’t seen before, you’d see for the first time. People didn’t know how to train properly for it, and the coaching wasn’t there yet, either.

‘Ring of Honor’ is extreme… probably one of my favorite matches I ever saw. I don’t remember the name of the guys, but it was unbelievable… it was almost like Stone Cold and Bret Hart when they had their ‘I Quit’ match.

How you find out who somebody is, whether or not they are a true warrior, a true competitor all the way through… is people that don’t know how to walk away or say, ‘I’m retired.’ Those are the ones that are purebred warriors. They don’t know anything else.

People love to be entertained and love the different storylines that go on in pro wrestling.

It is not easy to go away and come back. One year out of MMA is like five years out of MMA. When you leave and go do something else, like pro wrestling, you’re so far behind the times.

Dana White hides behind a microphone and behind a TV camera and spouts off and calls people names because he doesn’t like their opinion.

I grew up on the street, and I found a way to vent my frustrations through fighting.

My passion’s always been about helping the youth, and this is no different, except the issue are 21, 22, 23 years old and maybe even older than that, but they’re very young in MMA World.

I started out with Buzz Sawyer in Sacramento. He had me shoot on guys and beat them up. They tossed me a few bones here and there. But, after Buzz passed away, I started seeking training elsewhere.

There’s probably a hundred more submission holds in the WWE because of me training to bring in those submissions so people could look at them a legitimize them for pro wrestling. You look at it before I was there and after I was there: it’s different matches.

I will tell you what, the Rock was my nemesis. We did enough for each other; we put each other over to be famous. If we didn’t have that feud with each other, we wouldn’t have had the success we both had in pro wrestling. We really did build each other. I’m very thankful we had those opportunities and those matches.

Especially watching him struggle, cause I was with him when he was struggling – changed his name to The Rock, all of a sudden he has the attitude a little bit, he started getting the mic, started cutting promos. His character just developed.

Me, my heart and my soul will always be a fighter. I’m not comfortable with saying, ‘I’m done. I quit. I give up.’ That’s the way I am, and that’s the way I always will be. From the day I was born to the day I die, I am a fighter!

Mark Hunt is a formidable opponent, but his style gives Brock Lesnar the best chance to win. Mark Hunt may not be the best-skilled athlete, but when he gets in the ring, you’re going to get everything he’s got.

In MMA, I believe that when a fighter knocks someone down, you have to finish him. It’s not boxing, where you have a ten count; you have to finish him.

Traveling around, being able to see all those cities, being with all the fans. Different people, different ways of life – it was exciting.

I was in all the Pay Per Views and all the house shows, and I thought I made a pretty good impact and helped change pro wrestling – not by myself, but definitely, I was a part of it in the Attitude Era. There is no recognition towards me or about me, and I’m kind of disappointed.

The fans are most important… when it comes to the entertainment industry. They are the ones that matter most, and they should be heard.

I think a lot of people miss what I’ve done in the MMA world. How I was able to market and control the industry so that people wanted to watch my fights. If you look at the fights I’ve been involved in – in the SEG UFC, in Japan, for Zuffa and today, they have been fights that have turned companies around.

My whole thing was getting in there with these guys and really pushing their limits. Testing their toughness and their desire.

People go fishing and hunting and playing basketball and hiking and skydiving and all kinds of things that can hurt you seriously, and they don’t have to stop doing that when they get older.