"Fake as fuck" was how Joe Rogan once described a fight between Kimbo Slice and Ken Shamrock.
Kimbo Slice's farcical showdown with Dada 5000 and Ken Shamrock's controversial-ish defeat to Royce Gracie did massive tv ratings for Bellator: 2.3 million, to be precise.
It was the largest Bellator event ever, and the third most-watched fight card on network television in the past five years. But if Bellator were looking to use both men to reach similar tv heights in 2016, they might have to opt for a contingency plan.
Both Kimbo Slice and Shamrock failed their respective post-fight drug tests and have been suspended by the Texas Department of Licensing and Registration.
The drugs detected in each test have not been disclosed, but Kimbo's bizarre victory over Dada 5000 has been scratched off the record as a No Contest.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yzQ0qGyCQlk
What's more remarkable about this revelation, if it even is one, is the fact that it's UFC Hall of Famer Shamrock's second time testing positive for performance enhancing drugs. Yes, a combat athlete who uses his body to hurt other combat athletes, was done for the steroids norandrosterone, noretiocholanolone and stanozolol as recently as 2009. It beggars belief that any state or sporting commission could allow him to return to the cage - ever - but, naturally, he was only suspended until 2010.
Shamrock vehemently denied these allegations, but seven years on, at the age of 52, he faces them again.
It's been a sporting year defined by investigations into concussion and brain trauma, and a week where tennis' so-called ethical grey area has dominated headlines. Both Kimbo and Shamrock may have descended to 'joke figure' status amongst fight fans over the past number of years, but the fact remains that both men are professional combatants. And it's always worth bearing in mind that when a fighter seeks to gain an illegal advantage, they tend to do it with the conscious intention of harming another human being beyond their natural, physical capability.
Despite appearances on occasion, this isn't the WWE. If tennis has a grey area, both boxing and mixed martial arts could not be more black and white.
A hearing will be set to determine how long both fighters will be suspended.
H/T: MMA Fighting
