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| One Nasty, Gnarly Feud |
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Written by Doug Jeffrey |
 Tito Ortiz
Moving over to the hardwood, you'd have to be 6 feet under not to know about the bad blood between "Shaq Daddy" and his former Los Angeles Lakers teammate, Kobe Bryant. Those two guys were at odds with each other for quite some time. Let me take the opportunity to say I was on "Diesel"'s side from Day No. 1.
The world of mixed martial arts is not immune to its battles, either. Of course, we love it when they are in the Octagon, cage or ring, but I'm talking about outside.
I admit that I wasn't sure if the animosity between Ken Shamrock and Tito Ortiz was legit at first, but I recently found out that it's 100 percent real. You might say that it is as real as it gets.
Would They Agree to a Cover?
We were at the Ultimate Fighting Championship's Training Center during media day for "The Ultimate Fighter 3." As coaches of the two respective teams, of course, Shammy and Tito were there. Our plan was to get these two dudes together for a cover. We weren't sure if they would do it, but we were stoked about the idea.
When the news came back that they both agreed, we were ecstatic. Our next challenge was the composition. We had to figure out a way to make sure they were both presented equally on the cover. Obviously, we weren't going to have one guy slap on a submission at the expense of the other. In the very near future, you'll see what we came up with.
Regardless of the composition, one of the big keys is intensity. Capturing that emotion is always critical. Initially, some guys aren't comfortable playing the role of actor. After they warm up, however, they start to loosen up and show some feeling. We didn't have that problem with Ken and Tito. These guys were on fire right from the beginning. It reminded me of that old Neil Young song "Sugar Mountain," in which he sings, "... giving back some glares." There was fire in their eyes, and we didn't have to ask them once to put a little intensity into it.
During the course of the shoot, these guys epitomized professionalism. They put their differences aside and worked with us. While they deserve a lot of credit for that, Jaimee, our photog, deserves an assist. She has a knack for getting people to loosen up, and she has a number of ways to do it. In this case, she employed two of her most effective (secret) methods. I'm not sure either one is done consciously or deliberately because I've never asked. Regardless, it works, and these guys both had big smiles at various times throughout the shoot.
It's All About Respect
 Ken Shamrock
It's not often that you see that in the major sports. In basketball, the players acknowledge the opposition before the game. Afterward, they walk off. In baseball, unless an opposing player has accomplished some milestone, you never see it. In hockey, the opposing teams only congratulate each other after a playoff game. Football comes the closest. Before the game they stay apart. After the game, the opposing teams will mingle in the center of the field and offer congratulations.
All in all, MMA is the only sport in which you consistently see that respect for the opponent. And Ken and Tito are no exception, in spite of that nasty, gnarly feud they have going on.
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