Ken Shamrock's 6 best UFC fights

#3: vs. Tito Ortiz, UFC 40, November 22nd, 2002

Shamrock went to war with bitter rival Tito Ortiz at UFC 40

The result wasn’t the one that Shamrock was looking for, but his first fight with Tito Ortiz – Shamrock’s first in the UFC since his 1996 departure for the WWF – was the only time he looked competitive with the ‘Huntington Beach Bad Boy’ in any of their three fights.

The fight also drew a massive buyrate for the time period – 100,000 buys – and the legend goes that it was the PPV that stopped the Fertitta brothers from selling the promotion.

It was of course set up over years of animosity, stemming from Ortiz beating two of Shamrock’s prize students – Guy Mezger and Jerry Bohlander – in the late 1990’s while Shamrock was in the midst of his WWF run. After beating Mezger, Ortiz flipped Shamrock off and a rivalry was born. Top contender Chuck Liddell even stepped aside to let Ken have his shot at Ortiz, such was the size of the grudge.

Shamrock actually started off relatively brightly, as he dropped Ortiz to a knee during a wild exchange of punches, but he soon succumbed to Tito’s powerful takedowns and ground-and-pound game. Despite taking a hellacious beating though, he was able to escape to his feet on numerous occasions, and only gave up the ghost when his corner stopped the fight after the third round.

Shamrock had lost the fight, but he’d also gained some semblance of respect from Ortiz, and the fight was hugely memorable and can be argued to have saved the UFC.