It's late February, one man gets a phone call from Art Davie, the founder of the UFC. An injury to Ken Shamrock has opened up an alternate spot in the tournament. The brave man on the other side of the phone accepts the offer and will enter UFC 2: No Way Out in less than 2 weeks. This man is Fred Ettish, Karate Master.
Fred Ettish stepped in for an injured Frank Hamaker to fight Johnny Rhodes in the second round of the one night tournament. During the fight Ettish pioneered many tactics such as the butt-scoot and fetal position that would later be used by MMA champions Shinya Aoki and Brock Lesnar respectively. Ettish was truly a pioneer for the sport and even in defeat, Ettish became a legend.
View the epic battle in it's entirety below:
After over a decade of being one of the many punch-lines of the hardcore MMA community, Fred was determined to prove himself in MMA. Sure, he was 53 years old and may have had a little bit of ring rust after not having a fight in over a decade but he was determined to make a comeback. There was only one man worthy of his comeback and that was the highly touted prospect Kyle Fletcher. Ettish made a successful comeback which you can see in it's entirety below. Fletcher never recovered from the loss and is currently 0-9 in his professional MMA career.
Here's to you Fred! Seriously, all jokes aside you're a part of MMA history and a great tale of redemption.
Also Fred has one hell of a life story and has over-come a lot of stuff in his childhood so check out this Sherdog article about him for some insight.
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