MMA Ironman #5: Shannon 'The Cannon' Ritch - 12/14/2003
by Ron Merrill

Coming in at #5 on your list of MMAs Top-5 American Ironmen is Shannon The Cannon Ritch. Shannon has competed in over 100 different fight promotions around the world against some of the top talent in mixed martial arts. Ritch earns the #5 spot as one of MMAs Top-5 American Ironmen as voted upon by you, the fans. Heres Shannons story.

InsideFighting: Whats your professional record?
Shannon Ritch: My professional MMA record is 69-59-2.

IF: Have you been involved in professional kickboxing matches as well?
SR: Sure. Twice in K-1 and several in the Phoenix area.

IF: When did you get started? When did you first walk into a dojo or school? When did you decide that you wanted to fight?
SR: I started doing martial arts when I was ten years old. I started training in a Japanese martial art called Washin Ryu, which is traditional karate. Fast-forward to ten years later in 1990 I received a black belt. So I had a black belt in traditional karate. I thought I was a pretty tough guy. Then I got introduced to Muay Thai kickboxing. I started training at Fairtex. At that time, Fairtex was in Chandler Arizona I only trained there for a couple weeks. They closed that school down and they moved to Tempe Arizona. And at that time, the Fairtex split and it was a guy named Rob Baker. He took over and he had a guy named Boonkerd who was the Fairtex instructor. He was my trainer. So it was Bakers Fairtex. I trained with Boonkerd for several months, I tested for my shorts, and I passed my shorts test. Then they left and went to San Francisco California.

IF: Tell me when you witnessed your first mixed martial arts match?
SR: Well, the first one that I probably witnessed was in 1992.

IF: What was that match and what were the circumstances around seeing it?
SR: The circumstances around that were that they were pit fights. At that time, none of these fights were sanctioned. In Nogales Mexico, they would have chicken fights, dog fights and they would have people fights. And there was a lot of heavy betting going on. So, I dont know if you ever saw that movie Lionheart where Van Damme is fighting for money and people are betting on it? Well it was similar to that except that they had submissions. You could use chokes, armbars, locks

IF: So this was literally human cockfighting.
SR: Yeah, exactly. Strictly and totally illegal. But you could go in and you could make five or six hundred bucks.

IF: At what point did you decide that you wanted to go and get involved in something like that?
SR: Actually, I started doing that and I had several fights, which I won. But the reason that I was winning was because nobody knew how to wrestle. I was fighting a lot of Hispanic guys that were all boxers and I come from a wrestling background. Id take them down, get their backs and then choke them out to get the win. Then in 1996, after having several of these fights, I was introduced to Dan Severn and Becky Levi. They hooked me up with my first sanctioned fight, which was Super Brawl out in Hawaii. Before that in 94ish, there was an Arizona organization called the Arizona Shootfighting Championships. That was more or less a Pankration style where you hit with open-hands to the face but you could kick to the head. It was like full-contact karate with grappling. I had several fights in that organization and became the Arizona Shootfighting champion. Then I fought in Super Brawl and after Super Brawl I was done with anything else. I wanted to just do the sanctioned fights.

IF: So Super Brawl was your first major promotion and youve been in dozens.
SR: Ive fought in 120 promotions. Ive fought for everything in the United States and pretty much the world except the UFC.

IF: Wow. So where do you prefer to fight?
SR: I prefer to fight in Russia and/or Mexico where everything is legal, where you can headbutt, elbow - where you can wear gloves or not wear gloves. There have been several times Ive fought where it wasnt even a win but it was a really good fight. I fought a guy by the name of Larry Parker who is a Pride veteran he has several fights under his belt. Hes a heavyweight. I walk around at like 170-175 and this guy was like 220+. We fought bare knuckle down in Mexico and I pretty much got the crap beat out of me, but it was such a good time and it was a great fight. I just love those rules. I fought in Russia headbutts and elbows. I actually won a middleweight tournament. That was good. I like it when the rules are limited, where you can actually just get in there and fight. Theres some times where you get into a fight and you cant hit to the head or you cant elbow or knee to the face or knee on the ground. I mean, you start getting into these fights and you forget the rules and you get DQd or a warning, or they take part of your purse away.

IF: When youve had as many fights as youve had, do you remember each of them?
SR: Yeah, pretty much every one of them.

IF: Do you have a most difficult or most memorable fight?
SR: I have a real good memorable fight. I fought a guy by the name of James Minson and what was really good about this fight is that it lasted for 22 minutes straight. It was back before they had rounds. Tito Ortiz was actually the referee. This was before Tito was really famous, back when he was still coming up. I won that fight due to protesting it afterwards. There had been two illegal fouls but I ended up getting the belt. It was for a lightweight tournament belt.

IF: Have you ever been seriously injured in fighting?
SR: The only serious injury Ive every received isI broke my arm before I fought Frank Shamrock in K-1. Then when I fought him in K-1 he kicked it right on the break and it re-broke. Ive popped a rib, broken my hand, broken my nose several times. Ive only been knocked out once and that was against Joe Merit in King of the Cage.

IF: When youve had as many fights as youve had, what becomes your goal?
SR: You know everybody when they fight theyre always harping on winning. For me, Im testing myself. I usually dont fight scrubs. I dont know if youve followed my record or not, I know that people give me a bad name in MMA but they dont understand what Im doing. I am fighting out of my weight class, first of all. I walk around naturally at 170 and I should be fighting at 155 lbs. Generally I fight at 185 or 205. The guys are way bigger than me. Im giving up a lot of weight and what Im doing is testing myself against these other guys who are bigger, stronger and better than me. So I go out there and just give the best I can. If I win, great. If I lose, great. Its a learning experience for me.

IF: How do you respond to your critics?
SR: A lot of guys just dont get it. They think that, hey, if you fight Shannon Ritch, hes gonna tap out quick. Hes gonna tap out early. He doesnt have any heart. But these guys have never really even seen me fight. If you ask anybody that Ive ever fought or any promoter that Ive ever fought for, theyre going to tell you that Im worth the money and that Im a great asset to the sport. Im there to please the crowd. The fans are paying their money to come and see an entertaining fighter. I dont think the fans want to see a guy getting his head beat in and just keep taking punch after punch ala Igor Vovchanchyn vs. Enson Inoue. Sure, Enson has a ton of heart. He took a beating. But if it were me, I would have tapped out long before he did. Thats just being smart.

IF: When youre fighting with the schedule that youre keeping right now, is there a sense of, hey, I dont want to get injured here, Ive got a fight coming up next week?
SR: No. I dont even think about that. I have fought injured, so thats not the case at all. If I get caught in a situation where I know that the other guy is in the dominant position and that theres no way out of it, Im going to tap. Thats why that rule is there.

IF: You said that you do this to test yourself. Are you wanting to set a record for most fights?
SR: No. You know, that was a little joke that I had with Travis Fulton a couple years ago but I dont think Ill ever catch that guy. He fights every weekend. I fight every other weekend. [laughs]

IF: With the schedule that youre pulling, do you give yourself enough time to train or is fighting your training?
SR: See, thats the whole thing. I train every single day. Ive never come into a fight out of shape. Its just that my fights dont usually last past the first round. I come out strong, I come out hard and I come out fast. Its either, youre gonna get knocked out in the first minute or youre gonna get tapped in the first minute. A two-minute fight for me is a long fight because they dont last that long.

IF: Whats the best part about this lifestyle?
SR: The travel. I get to travel and meet so many different people. And the fans are awesome. Its a growing sport. Every day it grows more and more. Little kids come up to you and say, hey, Ive seen you fight or can I have your autograph. Maybe you didnt win that night and youre like, are you sure you want my autograph? And theyre like, yeah man, we like you. You came out and you were cool. That to me is what its all about. Its about building a fan base. Win, lose or draw, you put on a good show. As long as the fans are happy at the end of the night, thats all that matters.

IF: What advice would you have for someone looking to get into this sport?
SR: I would say, Why? Why do you want to get into this sport? [laughs] You know, in this sport its really hard to make a living. I make a living fighting and I fight pretty much every other weekend to pay my bills. If you dont have another job and you want to strictly do this full-time, I would say that youre wasting your time because youre not going to make a lot of money. Im fortunate enough to have met guys like Don Frye, Dan Severn, Tito Ortiz and Frank Shamrock. These guys have given me big opportunities and Ive actually made some really good paydays. But if a new guy is coming in, Id tell him to go find a school a Pat Miletich, a Tito Ortiz, Quinton Jackson, Chuck Liddell go find someone like those guys. Go train with them and have them help you. Have somebody thats been in the business and paved the way; help you get your start.

IF: Do you have any messages for your fans?
SR: Messages for my fans? If I have any fans [laughs]

IF: [laughs] Dont be too hard on yourself.
SR: If I have any fans out there, just know that 2004 is going to be a big year for me. Ive got a lot of things coming up and theyre going to see a lot more wins. I think that I might drop weight and start fighting the smaller guys and just build up a bunch of wins. It seems like you get bashed if you dont win. So instead of fighting the big guys all the time, Im going to use my experience and drop some weight and fight the guys that I think I can beat.

IF: Well best of luck to you in 2004.
SR: I appreciate it.

IF: On behalf of InsideFighting.com, thanks for taking the time out to speak with me.
SR: Yeah, no problem.

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