Showtime has no interest in Slice vs. Shamrock – Kevin "Kimbo Slice" Ferguson has a future fighting on Showtime, but the same can't be said for the man he was supposed to face last year.
Despite Ferguson's lack of experience and Ken Shamrock's lack of recent success, the EliteXC bout between the two was poised to draw a big audience on CBS this past October, before Shamrock torpedoed the fight with the now infamous warm-up cut above his eye.
With Strikeforce now controlling the immediate rights to Ferguson's contract and Shamrock willing to fight for just about anyone, the bout could easily be made a second time. However, Showtime wants no part of it.
"There's been no conversation about that, and there won't be," said Ken Hershman, Showtime's senior vice president and general manager of sports and event programming.
Hershman wouldn't shed any light on his rationale for not wanting to make the fight, but Shamrock clearly didn't do himself any favors in the eyes of TV programming executives with the rookie mistake he made that October night in Florida. Since then, the 45-year-old UFC Hall of Famer has made a mockery of himself and the sport by beating a grotesquely overweight Ross Clifton in a fight on Feb. 13 in Fresno, Calif.
Don't expect the elder Shamrock on Showtime anytime soon.