At one point in history us fans were in love with The Lion’s Den fight team. It was headed up by UFC legend Ken Shamrock when he was seen as the baddest man on the planet with an asterisk (Royce Gracie). Ken had the body, the charisma, and the reputation of being a beast in and out of the cage.
The Lion’s Den held tryouts that weeded out many an aspiring fighter who couldn’t keep up. Ken made sure that they wanted it enough to take it seriously so he wasn’t wasting his time. I interviewed Ken multiple times throughout my martial arts coverage and he is a genuinely nice guy. A little hard to get a hold of but very nice. We spoke about The Lion’s Den often and he spoke about it with passion.
Someone posted a video of part of the tryouts. Check it out.
The UFC owes a lot to The Lion’s Den because they were producing quality fighters for their organization to feature. Quality fighters at that. Ken and Tito Ortiz saved Zuffa when they fought at UFC 40 in my opinion because they drew in 150K pay per view buys which was unheard of for the company until then.
They just released a video to show how much they appreciate The Lion’s Den and what they accomplished.
Check it out.