There have been many memorable and impactful rivalries in the UFC throughout their history and Tito Ortiz vs Ken Shamrock was among those that helped generate mainstream exposure when they headlined UFC 40: Vendetta in 2002.
The grudge match came together at the perfect time as it was a year removed from Zuffa purchasing the UFC, which happened to be a difficult financial period. Shamrock, who was returning to the promotion for the first time since 1996, was a bigger star than when he departed as a result of his popularity and success during his stint with WWE.
Despite coming off a hard-fought split decision loss to Don Frye at Pride 19 earlier that year, the 38-year-old was offered a deal to return to the UFC and challenge light heavyweight champion, Ortiz. The 27-years-old champion was in his physical prime and had been riding a wave of success, having successfully retained his title on four occasions.
Due to the animosity between them, the fight announcement was well received among fans as one of the sport’s pioneers was returning to the promotion he helped put on the map to take on one of the top fighters in the world.
There was plenty of mainstream attention for UFC 40: Vendetta, which was evident when both fighters appeared on ‘The Best Damn Sports Show Period’. ‘The Huntington Beach Bad Boy’ was in-studio, while ‘The World’s Most Dangerous Man’ appeared via satellite, which was for the best as they proceeded to take jibes at each other and outlined what they believed was going to transpire in their fight.
The animosity reached its breaking point at their pre-fight press conference after Ortiz laughed off Shamrock’s, ‘I’m going to beat you into the living death,’ threat, leading to White having to step in between them and ensure that the situation didn’t escalate any further.
While speaking with Shamrock on VIBE 105.5FM Toronto in 2018, he brought up that he was dealing with a torn ACL at the time and revealed that there was urgency to make the fight happen. He mentioned that he didn’t want to risk missing out on the opportunity should he wait for his ACL to heal and felt obligated to help the UFC because they struggled financially even after Zuffa had taken over.
Shamrock said:
“I thought in my mind, this is an organization – the UFC – that is like my child. I have to protect it, I have to try to make sure that this thing stays alive, because it’s my DNA, I helped build it. And so, I went and did that fight with the thought in my mind that I was going to be the one that would revive this company and that it would keep going because I can’t let it disappear, I can’t let it close down…I believed that I could save the UFC, that I could get the numbers they needed in order to keep the doors open.”
Aside from getting caught with a powerful hook during a fiery exchange early in the first round, it was a dominant win for ‘The Huntington Beach Bad Boy’ as he earned his fifth title defense after Shamrock’s corner threw in the towel prior to the fourth round. He was more successful with his striking and took the former Superfight champion down on a number of occasions before landing vicious ground-and-pound.
The added mainstream attention clearly paid off for UFC 40: Vendetta as 13,265 fans packed the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas to witness the grudge match, with the UFC earning a live gate of $1.54 million as well as generating over 150, 000 pay-per-view buys.
