UFC Legend Ken Shamrock Says He Learned This Skill From Mike Tyson

UFC Hall of Famer Ken Shamrock has revealed the role Mike Tyson played in his legendary career.

In a recent appearance on the “Hotboxin’ With Mike Tyson” podcast, Shamrock opened up about his early days in combat sports, including the person who inspired some of his signature traits. According to Shamrock, he learned a lot from watching “Iron Mike” and incorporated the lessons he got from him into his own style.

“I literally watched you fight and I remembered the eye contact, I remembered the confidence, I remembered beating fighters before you ever get into the ring,” Shamrock told Tyson.

“If you watch Mike fights over in Japan and you watch him really closely, that’s how I entered my fights. I want to make sure that the guy that I was fighting knew I was gonna fight him, knew I was gonna hurt him and knew I was gonna destroy him,” he explained, before adding, “And a lot of that stuff I got from you when you were fighting. A lot of that stuff I picked up from you.”

Tyson acknowledged Shamrock’s words and made a reference to Bruce Lee’s philosophy, saying, “Winning the fight without fighting.”Prior to embracing Tyson’s demeanor, Shamrock said he had no specific role model when he was growing up. Instead, he let the experience of living in a tough neighborhood hone him until he became relentless.

“It wasn’t a role model, it was more of a concept,” the UFC legend explained. “Because the way I grew up, I watched how gangs worked, I watched how guys in power worked and I thought to myself ‘I aint nobody’s punk,’ I’m gonna get to the top of the food chain in that world.”

However, the 56-year-old admitted that “when things progressed,” he learned that power cannot be attained just by being a tough guy. For Shamrock, combat sports allowed him to become powerful in a different way: by being “really good at something.”

Aside from MMA, Shamrock is also recognized in the WWE. Some believe that he should be in the WWE Hall of Fame as well, but the company has not inducted him to this day.

According to veteran WWE journalist Dave Meltzer, Shamrock reached out to the WWE about potentially being inducted in the Hall of Fame, but execs were not keen on the idea.

“Nope. As far as contact, I mean Ken has tried to get in with them several times and they aren’t interested, for whatever reason,” Meltzer said on Wrestling Observer Radio in 2017.