Prosecuted for a crime he didn’t commit, fleeing the country and six months in prison. Shem Rock has a story like a movie, now he’s going to take over the Oktagon

Shem Rock. Doesn’t that name ring a bell? Then be alert on April 29th. Because this is a potentially big future star of the Oktagon. The English fighter has an incredible story behind him that could easily be made into a movie.

Shaqueme “Shem” Rock is the new acquisition of the Oktagon. He is already quite a big name in England, but he is still building it here. The 29-year-old has an incredible life story to help him do so.

He grew up in Liverpool and didn’t come from the best of backgrounds. He got involved in the marijuana trade fairly early on, but it didn’t end there. He made more and more money and considered dropping out of school, thinking that since he was making big money, he didn’t need it.

“When I was 16 to 18, I started going into bigger and bigger things. At that time I was charged with grievous bodily harm, which ironically I did. I was a drug dealer, I was fighting on the street, but I never robbed houses,” Shem Rock says in the Oktagon documentary.

The police went as far as the school he was eventually expelled from. He was subsequently released on bail, BUT. He got a call from his lawyer telling him that the police had made a mistake and that he should return to custody. And that was not an option English wanted to take.

“I told her to tell them I would be back in the morning and that I had no way of getting there. But I knew immediately that I was going to run away. After all I had been through, I didn’t believe I would get justice. I’m certainly not going to go to jail for something I didn’t do. I was young and naive, so I ran away. I probablyshouldn’t have, but I’m glad I did because otherwise I wouldn’t have gotten into combat sports,” he revealed.

Shem Rock ran away from his own country and from Europe

So when the new day came, Shaquele woke up at 5 or 6 in the morning. He was afraid the police would come home to get him. He quickly applied for a passport, which was processed later that day, and then took a train from Liverpool to London. There he took the train to France and even went through security when the checkers did not scan his passport.

“Then I was worried there would be another check at the border. I was still sweating. But then they announced that we were in France. I couldn’t believe it. I couldn’t believe I was going to get past London, let alone get to France or Thailand. I just thought ‘f*** the police’ and I’ll make it as difficult as possible for them,” he says.

Shem only got into martial arts in Malaysia. He stumbled across a sign enticing him to take classes in Brazilian jiu-jitsu and went to give it a try. He used to fight, plus he was in shape, working out. He believed it would be a piece of cake for him. But he was so wrong.

When his coach put him in training, everyone outperformed him. The women, the kids. Even one 12-year-old boy said he strangled him “about 100 ways.”

However, as anyone can guess, the English fighter has made huge progress. He’s improved rapidly. He even went on to represent Great Britain at the Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu World Championships. And then he took up MMA.

Six months in prison, now Shem Rock is going to take over the Oktagon

Once Shaqueme started MMA, he was encouraged to enter a tournament. He made it all the way to the finals. However, the organizers found out he was wanted, so they eliminated him. But the owner of his gym arranged through the British Embassy that he could fight without being arrested.

But he was subsequently banned from his gym in Malaysia because he was wanted. What else? Returning to Europe: “It would have been the same in Liverpool. So I went to Dublin. I told the gym straight away that I was wanted and that I used to be a criminal, but I’m not anymore. I told them why I was wanted and that I was innocent. They were fine with it on the condition that I train and behave myself without any problems.”

Once Rock was in Europe, he didn’t want to keep running away. He accepted an offer to fight in Belfast, a UK territory. He won the title, only to get double KO’d in his first defence. First by his opponent, then he was arrested by the police and taken to Liverpool. No bail.

“In court they told me I was travelling on a false passport and therefore there would be no bail, they said I would run away again. But I travelled the world on my passport, I never used someone else’s. Then I was in prison for six months. It wasn’t really nice. I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone. It was the worst phase of my life. But I had to stop it to get to where I am now,” he says.

A trial followed, acquittal, release, and Shem was free. He quickly made his way to the Liverpool Gym and trained with UFC stars Paddy Pimblett and Molly McCann in his very first training session.

And what’s his message to Oktagon fans? “I’m going to be the biggest star. I’m going to win the lightweight and featherweight belt. People will remember me. It doesn’t matter who I fight. I just see the body and that’s all I care about. It’s not a game or entertainment. It’s a fight to the death. If I don’t take down my opponent, he’ll take me down in front of my family. I won’t let that happen.”

But he has another big dream. He wants to have his own gym where he can teach boys who have been unlucky in life. He wants to keep them off the streets because he knows he would have needed something like that himself in his youth.

Source: Octagon MMA, Sherdog