Career
A professional competitor since 1998, Ritch has competed for the MFC, Pancrase, K-1, PRIDE, King of the Cage and the WEC. Ritch has also been featured in the movie Bumfights 3: The Felony Footage, an episode of Walker, Texas Ranger as a Biker Gang Member, Movie Choke as an extra, Computer Society of India Las Vegas as Thug #2, an episode of iCarly as a Mobile Marketing Association Fighter and an episode of Numbers (television series). Shannon has over 200 professional Mobile Marketing Association fights 112 wins, 88 losses and 2 draws, some fights going undocumented and dating back as far as 1991. Ritch is from Coolidge, Arizona and was raised on a farm.
Ritch began learning karate from a young age and also competed in high school wrestling before becoming a professional kickboxer.
Ritch also was introduced to Brazilian jiu-jitsu before transitioning to a career in professional mixed marital arts Early career
Ritch claims to have made his professional debut in 1991 at an event in Mexico, but like much of his fighting career this was undocumented.
Ritch"s officially documented professional debut was in 1998. PRIDE
Ritch compiled a record of 13-16 (1) before being signed by the PRIDE Fighting Championships in Japan.
He made his debut in the organization on October 31, 2000 at Pride 11 against the legendary Japanese fighter Kazushi Sakuraba.
Ritch lost via Achilles lock submission only 1:08 into the fight. Ritch made his next appearance for the organization at Pride The Best Volume 2 on July 20, 2002 against Daisuke Nakamura and lost via armbar submission in the first round.
King of the Cage
Ritch holds a record of 2-14 in 16 fights for King of the Cage.