Anyone who has ever watched combat sports knows that it's hard for fighters to retire. From boxing to MMA, we've all seen our heroes fall to fighters toward the end of their careers that they might not have ever dropped a fight to during their primes. Since his loss to Rich Franklin back in 2005, Ken Shamrock has become the definition of this dilemma. This once great MMA fighter has been stopped by six of the last seven fighters he's faced in the opening round. Isn't that enough to finally compel him to retire? Not yet. So here are five other reasons for Shamrock to seek the rest that only retirement can bring.
1. It's time to retire when you lose to journeymen
Ken Shamrock was stopped by Robert Berry at Cage Rage 25 on 3/8/08 in round one. Berry currently holds a 12-9 record for his MMA career and has lost his last two fights. In other words, he's not that good, and yet was still able to dominate Shamrock.
2. It's time to retire when other over the hill fighters defeat you easily
People have been calling for MMA legend Kazushi Sakuraba's retirement for a long time now. The man has been through some MMA wars and is no longer the fighter that we once knew. Still, you'd think that would've made for a great match up with Ken Shamrock back at PRIDE 30 on 10/23/05. Not exactly. Rather, Sakuraba dispatched of "The World's Most Dangerous Man," in about two and a half minutes by TKO.
Sakuraba made it look easy.
3. It's time to retire when your chin tells you it is
We've all seen it recently with Chuck Liddell. All of a sudden, shots that never would've taken him out in the past put him on the canvas now. Just take a look at Shamrock's first fight with Tito Ortiz and compare it with his last two against "The Huntington Beach Bad Boy". In their first bout, he took an amazing amount of ground and pound from Ortiz and kept fighting. In their final two fights, Shamrock was dizzied very quickly by similar shots to those he encountered in their first fight. Shamrock just doesn't take punches like he used to, and that could equate to him getting hurt.
4. It's time to retire when you're harming your own legacy
Shamrock is one of the pioneers of MMA. At some point you have to think that all of the losses- we're talking about him getting beaten up badly here, folks- do some damage to your reputation.
5. It's time to retire when you're 46 years old
Not everyone is Randy Couture. Enough said.
