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Hollywood, Florida When Ken Shamrock thinks back about the first-ever Ultimate Fighting Championship, he remembers an event which claimed that two men would enter the octagon and just one would leave. It was the stuff of movies, he said. On that day, some 13 years ago, the UFC proved to be anything but a motion picture, the brutality, violence and drama was as real as it gets. On Tuesday, the UFC's realism once again trumped any thoughts of a happy movie ending. The grizzled veteran with his glory days far behind him was unable to defeat a younger opponent in the prime of his career. The good guy was unable to beat back "The Huntington Beach Bad Boy." There was no storybook ending as "The Final Chapter" of a mixed-martial arts legend's storied career was penned live on Spike TV at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood, Florida. Ken Shamrock lost to archrival Tito Ortiz for the third time in their UFC trilogy filled with ground-breaking fights, heated words, controversy and bad blood. The loss at 2:23 into the first round was a fight that hardly represented Shamrock as the Hall of Fame fighter he is. Instead, it saw him walk away displaying the class and honor that are every bit as symbolic of "The World's Most Dangerous Man" as his submissions and strikes. Shamrock made no excuses, there were no quips of controversy. Instead, he bid the sport he loved adieu, endorsed Ortiz and showed, that while memories of his dominating prime may have faded, his character has endured through all the tribulations. "I just say congratulations to [Tito Ortiz] and I wish him the best and everybody else in the UFC," Shamrock told the crowd just moments after Ortiz had ended his rival's career with a barrage of rights and lefts on the Spike broadcast dubbed "The Final Chapter." "I love this sport, I think this sport is the greatest sport in the world, and all the fighters in here have big hearts to step in here and fight. I just want to say God bless everybody and, again, thank you for the wonderful years, I love you all."  Ken Shamrock displayed dignity and class in his final loss during a win for the sport he pioneered. It was a fight for the fans - a rematch of Ortiz and Shamrock's second bout on July 8 that ended with a controversial stoppage in just 78 seconds. It was on live television in the hopes of repaying those who felt slighted. While there was an outcry for justice, few, if any, expected anything but what happened. "It's very difficult to pick Ken in this fight," UFC color commentator Joe Rogan said before the bout. "Ken is a veteran, he's been around forever, literally from UFC I, but Tito Ortiz is a bigger, stronger, younger guy, and Ken has shown nothing in the first two fights that would lead you to believe that he can stop Tito." And Shamrock couldn't stop Ortiz. Once again he was victimized by Ortiz's trademark ground-and-pound assault - the same approach that dealt Shamrock losses earlier this year and in the rivals' first fight in 2002. The two began the fight clinching and exchanging knees with the 31-year-old Ortiz pressing the 42-year-old Shamrock against the octagon cage before Shamrock spun for one of his trademark leg locks. "The World's Most Dangerous Man" found himself mounted by Ortiz, however, and that's where his UFC career ended. After a slew of punches and elbows by Ortiz, a former UFC light heavyweight champion who will face Chuck "The Iceman" Liddell for the title in December, referee John McCarthy ended the fight after Shamrock succumbed to a flurry of smashing rights and lethal lefts. Alas it was an outcome expected, but the aftermath most certainly was not. With Shamrock still down and receiving medical attention, the always controversial Ortiz went about his trademark grave-digger routine, finishing it with both middle fingers blazing toward his beaten opponent. Shamrock wouldn't back down, however, he never has. He plodded forward, refusing anything less than a handshake. And a blood feud that has driven pay-per-view buy rates and television ratings upward was finally squashed by a reluctant handshake, a not-so reluctant embrace and Ortiz raising Shamrock's hand for all the world to see as the two foes paraded around the octagon, hand-in-hand. After Shamrock's aforementioned post fight interview, Ortiz came back to apologize among other sentiments, finally offering, "You made me a better fighter - thanks for passing the torch." And then Shamrock walked out of his home away from Susanville, California - the octagon - to an overwhelming applause of appreciation. "Ken Shamrock will always be a champion. He will always be a pioneer, he will always be synonymous with the Ultimate Fighting Championships," said UFC commentator Mike Goldberg, as he ended the broadcast. "It's a sad night tonight in South Florida as, for one final time, we bid farewell to "The World's Most Dangerous Man" Ken Shamrock." The sadness came with the departure of a man who wore many hats - pioneer, champion, ambassador, pro wrestler, coach, fighter and on and on. The ultimate fighting ending would've been a victory. That never happened of course. Instead, Shamrock must be resigned to the fact that he captained a mixed-martial arts revolution, lending his fame and name to the cause of taking UFC to the mainstream. And, even in his departure, he continued to do just that. Indeed, in a sport lusting for respect, one of its founding fathers offered a show of virtue rarely seen in a mainstream world of athletics which, ironically, the UFC is trying so hard to become a part of. In a sport so desperately trying to rid itself of its barbaric and Neanderthal stereotypes, Ken Shamrock displayed the dignity and class that should have him remembered not just for the fighting excellence that made him famous, but for the character that never wavered - win or lose, then and now. Grant Gordon is currently the Sports Editor for the Glendale News-Press, a subsidiary of the Los Angeles Times. You can contact him at
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