World’s Most Dangerous Retrospective: Ken Shamrock vs. Don Frye (PRIDE FC 2/24/02)

World’s Most Dangerous Retrospective is a review series from three of the founders of Violent People reviewing the matches (and fights) of Ken Shamrock. A not so elegant ripoff of Segunda Caida’s Complete & Accurate series. Matches will be rated as either SOFT or HARD.

Pride 19
Saitama Super Arena
Saitama, Japan

Sam

Was PRIDE fixed?

Ken Shamrock was the promised US MMA star as soon as the UFC came to being. To Don Frye he was the man who beat his hero Dan Severn, and must be avenged. Forget that Dan had avenged his own loss, these wounds never quite heal and pro athletes are notorious for using any possible slight to fuel their competitive spirit. Both fighters being in their late 30s, they would need all the fuel they could get.

From the jump this starts like any fight between two testosterone filled American’s should go, hearty clinch work. Not derogatory. For the majority of the first round these two press heads against each other, arms entangled, trading shots. And god oh my does Don Frye in particular have shots. You see the size disparity fairly quick. Don isn’t bullying Ken around the ring in the clinch like you would expect a great wrestler to do. Instead he finds numerous moments to land these massive digging uppercuts to the ribs. Every shot aims to break a rib or at the very least suck the air out of Shamrock’s lungs. Early on Ken is happy to trade these shots but they don’t have nearly the same juice. Eventually deciding knees to the legs midsection would be a more appropriate strategy if he’s not going to be able to do the same direct damage to Don. At time it feels like a fly attacking a brick wall but that’s just how things go.

Then the end of the end of the round comes, changing everything. The methodical fight turns to 11 with both men throwing hands, Ken getting more to land but Don has rocks for fist. But if Ken has one great equalizer in a pro wrestling context and an MMA context, it is the leglock. It is minutes of Ken wrenching, trying to get the right hold on. Wrenching so hard he bends into getting punched in the face by Don. And if Don isn’t cool as a god damn cucumber the whole time. Ken tried but that only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades as the bell rings and Don lives on.

Ken sits in the corner, gasping for air. Don on the other hand stands the whole time looking like he just want for a nice jog in the park. Personally, I find that a little evil.

The second round has a lot less fan fair. It is mostly stand-up so Don comes out ahead but given PRIDE gives points based on the whole fight, this isn’t the sort of round to sway anyone. It is the rest spot of the match, not losing the crowd but making sure they don’t burn themselves out or the crowd out. Two absolute pros, understanding what pays the bills.

Even between rounds the juices start flowing. Ken is still sitting but he clearly looks ready to go. The tank has been refilled. Don looks the same as always, cold as ice.

All those positive feelings about Ken rush from my body the moment Ken gets pasted early in the round. With Ken flat on his back, Don brings hellfire. There is a world with a referee more interested in a fighter’s well being, this fight being stopped right about here. God bless we don’t live in that world. We see Don go for RNC and the man now playing from behind slips out and on top. For Ken, this is a survival position, not an offensive one.

And then we hit the moment where I question it all. Ken gets up from guard and throws on another leglock. We are back where we started in round one but the circumstances have changed. Don no longer looks like the confident figure we have seen throughout. It finally feels like we see him in danger. Ken’s face appears to have been smacked by bats and despite Don scrambling like hell there isn’t quite so much spunk coming from Ken. The vet with more miles in his career and certainly more wear from this match is only able to lean back on his technique and hope that takes him home.

Today it didn’t though. Don digs deep, tries putting on his own toe hold, merely out of desperation but enough to take time off the clock.

This was the best Americana that PRIDE could provide. Often you attribute this flavor of fight with big slugfests like a Bonnar vs. Griffin or a Lawler vs. MacDonald. Fights about outgunning the other man, but typically doing so in what is clearly your prime. This isn’t that. This is of an older generation. At least one fighter that understands that seeing who can hit the harder punch doesn’t prove all that much at the end of the day. And while I don’t love doing move-by-move breakouts, I think this match is very much about how they put each other to the test throughout. A fight just as much about fighting in a phone booth and seeing who could walk out as it is about how you go about coming back from the brink of defeat. It is all about heart and leaning on what brought you to the dance.

RATING: HARD

Dan

Sam, like all good things, yes.

This fight, promoted under the ominous title of “Bad Blood,” represents the culmination of a grudge that had lasted for nearly seven years. The beginning of this feud was Ken defeating Dan Severn —a man Don credits for changing his life. On top of this Ken Shamrock made disparaging remarks about DAN GABLE. To hear Frye tell it Shamrock didn’t want to fight him at this point. Shamrock claimed Frye needed to get fights under his belt before fighting him. Either way Don goaded Ken into the fight and raised the intensity of the feud by verbally attacking Ken’s father and brother.

This brawl more than lives up to all of the build up. Frye is the undeniable clear crowd favorite. The fans are hot for this fight. It starts out with, and this is not hyperbole, one of the best pre fight stare downs in the history of mixed martial arts. They spend a large chunk of the start of the fight in a clinch exchanging body shots. Ken called Frye’s punches here the hardest he’s ever been hit. This is a man who’s taken head kicks from Bas Rutten and unprotected chair shots from The Rock and this is the hardest he’s been hit.

Shamrock eventually gets the fight to the ground and threatens a nasty heel hook. Don Frye holds on for dear life and makes it to the end of the round. The second is all stand up and Don gets the best of it. The final round is a combination of everything up to this point. They start in a clinch and end up trading haymakers with Don knocking Shamrock down and almost finishing him. Shamrock is able to stay alive and get a hold of a leg. They trade leglocks until the final bell. Tanner asked how Don Frye survived this and I think there’s two answers. One, all the oxy that Don admitted to taking prior to this flight. And two, he didn’t.

As much as this bout is about bad blood, toughness, and the quintessential American spirit. It’s also about two warriors going out on their shields. This fight pretty definitively marks the end of both mens time at the top of the sport. Ken still had lots of main events and the blockbuster Tito series. Don still had the infamous Takayama fight. Going into this fight both men were relevant and ranked fighters. There was talk of the winner of this fighting Big Nog for the Pride Heavyweight Championship. THey both took that from each other. They were never the same after this fight. This isn’t just two men fighting each other. It’s two men fighting the encroachment of time and the inevitable evolution of the sport they built. 

Rating: HARD 

Chris

I guess I should start off this project with a confession. Unlike my friends and co-founders of Violent People, I am not much of an MMA fan. It is something that I will watch if a friend turns it on, but it’s not something I watch a ton of on my own. I do not know many fighters that don’t also have pro wrestling careers.

It’s a strange wrinkle considering how much I enjoy wrestling that is inspired by MMA, but I will not be the one on this project to give context within MMA history when it comes to Shamrock, one of the pioneers of the sport. I simply don’t know enough.

But I do know Shamrock. I know Don Frye. I know the Shamrock sideburns vs. the Frye mustache is an all-timer facial hair battle. I know that staredown at the start of the fight has more impact than any strike or hold about to occur. You can look at a picture of it and feel the hatred; it’s even more palpable in motion. Two of the toughest motherfuckers on the planet want to destroy each other, and they will spend the next twenty minutes doing just that.

The two combatants will spend much of the first round (and again in the second round) locked up, trying to get every punch and knee strike in to create an opening. Frye’s punches in particular look like they could push a soul out of a man’s body, even if he’s not getting the big time shot he wants.

When Shamrock finally gets Frye in a leglock, it looks like it’s over. Don Frye’s leg is twisting in ways nobody’s leg should ever twist, but he doesn’t think once about tapping out. Shamrock would have to break his leg clean off to get him to quit. Frank nearly does, but Frye stays in it. He looks damn near unfazed between rounds.

In round three, Don lands a punch that could demolish Saitama Super Arena itself. Shamrock somehow manages to stay alive and even gets Frye back into a leglock, but Frye counters with a lock of his own. At this point, the two men know they will not be able to put the other down at their own hands. They will survive on their own adrenaline and pride until the bell rings.

The commentary asks whether the two men will even be able to shake hands with all the hatred behind this blood feud. The crowd goes wild for a hug in an even bigger show of respect. It’s a great moment to close a great bout, and Frye is declared the winner by judge’s decision. Phenomenal stuff by two absolutely cold-blooded warriors.

Rating: HARD

FINAL RATING: SUPER HARD

Sam DiMascio
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Co-Founder of Violent People, Host of Talking Tourneys, We Don't Know Wrestling, Desert Island Comp.