Lion's Den (mixed martial arts)
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| Est. | 1994 |
|---|---|
| Founded by | Ken Shamrock |
| Primary trainers |
Ken Shamrock Guy Mezger- Lion's Den (Dallas) |
| Past titleholders |
Ken Shamrock 1st King of Pancrase (Pancrase 1994); Superfight Champion (UFC) Guy Mezger 7th King of Pancrase (Pancrase 1998) Roy Nelson IFL Heavyweight Champion 205 lb (93 kg)+ Frank Shamrock UFC middleweight champion, Strikeforce middleweight champion Maurice Smith UFC Heavyweight Champion Vernon White King of the Cage Middleweight Champion Joe Hurley King of the Cage Middleweight Champion |
| Training facilities |
Reno, Nevada Dallas, Texas Scottsdale, Arizona |
| Website |
Ken Shamrock's Lion's Den Lion's Den Dallas |
The Lion's Den is a mixed martial arts team and training facility that was based out of Lodi, California and San Diego, California but has recently moved its headquarters to Reno, Nevada. The team was founded in the early 1990s by UFC Hall of Famer Ken Shamrock, and was the most dominant fight camp in the early UFC. It featured fighters such as Frank Shamrock, Guy Mezger, Vernon "Tiger" White, Jerry Bohlander, Tra Telligman, Pete Williams, and Mikey Burnett. The Lion's Den now features many new training facilities, including Lion's Den Arizona, Lion's Den Connecticut, and Lion's Den Reno.
The team was founded out of necessity, as the then-new sport of mixed martial arts began to take off in the early 1990s. Shamrock, who had fought at UFC 1, had trouble finding adequate sparring partners to prepare for fights. Shamrock attracted the attention of American fighters Vernon White and Guy Mezger early on, and formed the first ever mixed martial arts team in the USA.
In trying to come up with a name for it, Shamrock recalled a documentary he saw about lions. The documentary showed how a group of lions hunted their prey and worked together. He felt his group of fighters should work the same way and be like a family, so he chose to name his gym the Lion's Den.
The Lion's Den was highly successful for many years and was widely regarded as one of, if not the best, mixed martial arts schools in the world throughout the late 1990s and into 2000. Fighters such as Guy Mezger, Ken Shamrock, Frank Shamrock, and Jerry Bohlander all became UFC Champions. Mikey Burnett came very close to winning the UFC Welterweight Championship, losing a controversial split decision to Pat Miletich at UFC Brazil. Guy Mezger was consistently ranked in the top 10 as a Light Heavyweight during his time with the UFC and PRIDE, and was ranked as high as the #6 Light Heavyweight fighter in the world in 2001, behind such notable names as Tito Ortiz, Wanderlei Silva, Dan Henderson, Chuck Liddell, and Vitor Belfort. The Lion's Den was also dominant in the King of the Cage promotion in the early 2000s, which at the time was an upper echelon MMA promotion. Vernon White and Joe Hurley both achieved championship gold in KOTC.
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