Shem Rock fled the UK after HD was arrested for a crime he didn't commit, spent 10 years in Asia and now fights for one of Europe's top MMA promotions
MMA star Shem Rock spent a decade on the run for a crime he didn't commit, but now he's fighting for one of Europe's biggest promotions.
Scouser spent most of his teens getting mixed up with the wrong crowd and was eventually arrested in connection with aggravated robbery. Locke, who had maintained his innocence, was mistakenly granted bail and when he received a call from his lawyer to return to custody, he chose to flee the UK and traveled to Asia.
Locke spent his first year on the run in Thailand, and his life changed when he visited Singapore to renew his visa. “I walked by the big building and everyone was rolling around on the mats. I spent 45 minutes just watching them play, but when I went back to Malaysia five or six months later, I was a Brazilian… It was a billboard for jiu-jitsu and I realized that was what I was watching in Singapore,” he told Mirror Fighting.
Rock's confrontational side proved to be his downfall when he started Jiu-Jitsu, when he hit a gym coach in the head trying to escape a submission during his first training session. “He messed me up. The first thing he did was put me in a triangle choke. I picked him up and hit him. That was the worst thing I ever did in my life.
“He hit me probably about 60 times after that. I remember going home and racking my brain for two hours, thinking, 'Was this real?'” That night. I went back to night classes and then went every day for three weeks straight. ” Locke ended up posting an MMA record of 6-1 before being jailed and facing a 12-year sentence upon his return to the UK.
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After being on remand for six months, Mr. Scouser was acquitted in a trial that lasted just 20 minutes. Locke admitted that he still feels resentment toward the justice system because of what he went through. “It shaped me and I'm grateful for the path I've taken, but the system has done things to young teenagers that it shouldn't be doing right now,” he added.
The Rock returns to action tonight at OKTAGON 56 in Birmingham, taking on Stefano Catacori. Scouser was scheduled to face Jaroslav Pokorny in his third appearance in the promotion last November, but the fight was called off after Pokorny was injured in a scuffle with Rock at the weigh-in.
