As some predicted, the out of date clash between UFC Hall of Famer Ken Shamrock and British MMA pioneer Ian Freeman, has crashed and burned.
With the aged veterans expected to meet in Doncaster, at UCFC on July 27, Shamrock spoke out last month via Twitter, claiming that UCFC promoters backed out of contractual terms, and that his name was being used to sell tickets, despite promoters having no intention of living up the agreements.
In an interview with The Underground Fight Network, Shamrock revealed that the fight is off altogether, but that UCFC promoters held back the information, in order to continue selling tickets.
“Well that fight’s not happening. Unfortunately, like we just got done talking about promoters and things of that nature, that is exactly what happened. We put a contract together and we made a deal. They came back to me, probably after about four weeks, with the contract that we agreed upon and said that, “We don’t want to do that contract.” Ha-ha. I was just like, “Wait a minute. What did you say?” It’s like I’m from another world sometimes. It’s like, “You made a deal, but you don’t want it no more. You want to pay me less. Okay. That sounds great. Let’s just do it then.”
“So that’s the stuff that I have to run into now that I’m kind of independent and doing my own thing. A lot of times I run into that, where people, what they do, which is what they’re doing on this, they put my name on the card. They try to sell tickets as much as they can. Then they’ll come back and say, “Well, listen, we can’t pay you this much,” and think that I’m going to go ahead and fight. Even if I don’t fight, they’ve already got those ticket sales and they’ll just blame it on me. They’ll say, “Shamrock is a no-show.”
“Now I’ve got my work cut out for me to get that out there so that I can let people know that this was negotiated a long time ago, and these guys are in breach of contract, and they’re the ones not holding up their end of the bargain. So, like I said, now I have to do my due diligence to let my fans and other people realize that, hey, this is the kind of stuff that goes on. Most of the time I wouldn’t do that, but in this situation they keep selling tickets with me supposedly going to be there to fight. Then when I don’t show, they’re going to blame it on me.”
“There’s no advertising it. They have twenty-five days of breach of contract as of today. So I was like, “What’s going on? You’ve announced that I’m still fighting. You know I’m not fighting. You’re still telling the people that I’m fighting. And you’re in breach of this contract.”
British MMA Pioneer, Ian Freeman responded in a statement via Facebook, presenting his take on the circus, claiming that Shamrock made continued demands for money in advance:
Shamrock fight is off – A replacement is found!
Well, everyone including myself, knew this fight was too good to be true as we know what a coward Shamrock is.
Not only is Shamrock a coward but he’s also a thief. He accepted the fight, demanded $5,000 upfront as a deposit of trust, of which was sent, and now refuses to return the money.
Not only has he demanded that money up front but also ask for his purse and ticket deal to be paid “before” he fights and this money to be sent to an American bank.
Shamrock you are f—ing delusional? What promoter pays a fighter before he fights and with your track record of being a bum, I’m not surprised the promoter said no.
UCFC bent over backwards to stick to your Diva demands but you bitched about everything. Even to the fact that they were advertising your name to sell tickets. Thats what every show in the world does dumb F—. The fight was confirmed, and you signed and made a video signing the contract. Idiot.
You know I would have hurt you bad but you had to string everyone along after your WWE speech about wanting to fight me, so you had to play along with it. Now your making excuses saying the promoters are in breach of contract. Bulls—. You had no intentions of fighting me. Your a fake, a crook and a liar. You even made an interview about not fighting me yesterday “without” telling the promotion you pulled out. That just shows what a professional knob you are.
Your over and I hope the rest of the world see this and realise you’ve lost the plot, your an idiot and I hope your never hired for anything again.
As far as I’m concerned, I have been training hard and ready to fight anyone. A replacement is confirmed and will be announced very soon. A fighter a lot tougher than Spamcock, but hey, I’m here to fight. Win or lose that’s what I do.
I’m here to please My fans, not to let them down.
See you guys July 27th, Doncaster.
Ian “The Machine” Freeman.
Brought to you by Jorden Curran @onejcurran
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