"Recognize the sport for what it is" - Ken Shamrock hopeful that MMA pioneers get more recognition from the UFC

Ken Shamrock recently opened up about the UFC honoring the past greats that helped pave the way for future generations of fighters and the promotion itself being the powerhouse it is today.

The promotion celebrated its 30th anniversary this past November at UFC 295, but many in the MMA community believed it could have done more to recognize its history. While speaking to MMA Junkie at the 2023 World MMA Awards red carpet, the UFC Hall of Famer noted that it is complex because of the different ownership groups. Still, he mentioned that it would be nice for the MMA pioneers to be recognized more by the promotion.

The former UFC Superfight champion said:

"There was a lot of different stages of ownership, so I guess just trying to break the ice...Hopefully they let all that those boundaries down and just recognize the sport for what it is and not who started and who created what, but just about the guys that were a part of it in the beginning and everything that transitioned up to now will come together."

Whether the UFC will begin to honor MMA pioneers like Ken Shamrock and others who competed during the promotion's early years at future milestone events remains to be seen.

Check out the full interview:

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Ken Shamrock reflects on reuniting with UFC 1 competitors

Ken Shamrock recently reflected on what it was like to reunite with his fellow living competitors from UFC 1.

Before the 30th-anniversary event, the UFC uploaded a special reunion roundtable, which saw the competitors reminisce and detail how they were approached for the one-night tournament. During the video mentioned above, World's Most Dangerous Man' said that seeing everybody again was great as they all interacted when their mindset was focused on competition.

The UFC Hall of Famer said:

"When you get to go and actually meet these guys years later, you don't have that fight instinct, you're not training for anything, you get to really let [your guard] down and just get to really know one another. And that's what we got to do there [for the reunion roundtable].Just a bunch of great guys, man, I was very blessed to be a part of that." [1:16 - 1:32]

Tweet regarding the UFC 1 roundtable.