UFC HOFer Ken Shamrock Announces Retirement

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Hollywood, Florida - In the end, swift young hands beat an old favorite heart.

And the end came fast. In a one-sided match done by 2:23 of the first round, 42-year old UFC Hall of Famer and darling of the sport, Ken Shamrock, fell to the blows of 31 year-old Tito Ortiz.

After Ortiz dropped Shamrock to the mat and dispatched flurries of hits to the head, referee John McCarthy put a TKO  period to one of most storied careers in the history of the sport. A frantic crowd of 5000 at the Hard Rock Live Arena in Hollywood, Florida and millions more watching on Spike TV knew it was Shamrock’s last moments in the octagon, and few wanted the era to end.

"I knew that win or lose, this was going to be the last time," Shamrock said after the fight, the left side of his face welted and swollen. "I am not a fighter anymore. I have stepped back and realized that this game has passed me by."

In retirement, Shamrock will continue in his unofficial role as the ambassador of the sport he brought into the nation’s living rooms. Ortiz will fight a December date with Chuck Liddell for a shot at the UFC light heavyweight title.