Sean Sherk

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Sean "The Muscle Shark" Sherk (born August 5, 1973) is an American mixed martial artist. As of July 7, 2007, he holds a professional mixed martial arts record of 31-2-1. He has fought in both the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) and PRIDE Fighting Championships. He holds wins over Karo Parisyan, Hermes Franca, Kenny Florian and Nick Diaz. Sherk became the UFC lightweight champion on October 14, 2006 at UFC 64. He was the second UFC lightweight champion, and was the first champion since the division's reinstatement in 2006. In December 2007, Sherk was officially stripped of the title after testing positive for steroids.

1 Statistics
2 Career
3 Steroid Suspension
4 Personal life
5 MMA record
6 Gallery
7 External links

[edit] Statistics

Nickname: The Muscle Shark

Height: 5 ft 6 in (1.68 m)

Weight: 155 lb (70 kg)

Nationality: American

Fighting out of: Anoka, Minnesota

Team/Association: Minnesota Martial Arts Academy

Fighting Style: Wrestling, Boxing, Muay Thai, Brazilian jiu jitsu

[edit] Career

The story of Sean Sherk begins in 1973. Born in St Francis MN, Sean began wrestling at a the young age of 7. Over his 11 year wrestling career he racked up over 400 matches.In the mid 90’s he began to dabble in martial arts. After discovering the Minnesota Martial Arts Academy, he began to study Boxing, Shoot Wrestling, and Muay Thai. He soon found that his wrestling background gave him a distinct advantage on the mat. His coach Greg Nelson, owner of the M.M.A.A., remembers that ”He was extremely tenacious and would never quit. ” In the year 2000 Sean continued his love for wrestling by hooking up with the St. Cloud State Wrestling team.

Sherk began his mixed martial arts career in 1999 at the Dangerzone MMA Event in Bonville, Minnesota. He opened his career with a twelve-fight win streak, including two notable victories over rising Judo star Karo Parisyan, and was picked up by the Ultimate Fighting Championship in 2001.

[edit] UFC

He made his UFC debut at UFC 30 where he defeated Tiki Ghosn. After going 5-0-1 outside of the UFC he was brought back to fight Jutaro Nakao at UFC 36, a fight in which Sherk won via unanimous decision. His next fight was on September 27, 2002 against Benji Radach at UFC 39. Sherk won the fight when it was stopped due to a cut Radach received. Sherk was then chosen to fight Matt Hughes for the UFC welterweight championship on April 25, 2003. Sherk lost his title bid in a five round fight where he won two rounds, becoming the first person ever to go five rounds with the then-champion Hughes.

[edit] PRDIE FC

Following the fight with Hughes, Sherk fought three more times in 2003, winning all three bouts. In 2004 he signed with PRIDE and made his debut with the Japanese-based organization at PRIDE Bushido 2, facing Ryuki Ueyama. Sherk won the fight via unanimous decision. It was in Japan where he adopted his nickname, "The Muscle Shark". The Japanese katakana for Sherk is the same for shark. Sherk's win in PRIDE would be his only outing in the company.

[edit] Layoff

Sherk then won seven straight fights, all by submission or TKO, but still was not signed to the UFC or PRIDE. He often faced trouble getting enough fights to support his family. After the birth of his first child, he retired from the sport of mixed martial arts and got a job in the flooring business

[edit] Return to the UFC

The UFC had experienced a growth in popularity after the first season of The Ultimate Fighter. After his coach suggested that he start teaching classes and speaking with his old manager, Monte Cox, Sherk began training for a return to professional mixed martial arts. He defeated Joel Blanton, and then was invited back to the UFC for a fight with welterweight contender, Georges St. Pierre. Sherk lost by TKO, but was given another fight in the UFC at UFC 59, where he defeated Nick Diaz by unanimous decision, earning his first victory in the organization since 2002. During the post-fight interview, Sean Sherk stated his intention to drop down in weight to the lightweight division.

[edit] Lightweight Championship

In October 2006, Sherk won the UFC lightweight championship at UFC 64, defeating The Ultimate Fighter 1 finalist Kenny Florian by unanimous decision. With his win he became the second champion in the UFC's lightweight division since Jens Pulver vacated the title in 2002. However, before the title bout Sherk tore his rotator cuff and had to take a break to rehabilitate.

[edit] Steroid Suspension

After successfully defending his title against Hermes Franca at UFC 73 on July 7, 2007, the California State Athletic Commission announced that Sherk and Franca had both tested positive for banned steroids in post-fight drug tests. After testing positive for Nandrolone, Sherk was fined $2,500 and suspended from competing in California until July 6, 2008. He has since filed an extension for his appeal hearing. His appeal was December 4, 2007, which saw Sherk's suspension reduced to 6 months, making him eligible to fight in early January 2008.[4] According to UFC President Dana White, Sherk has passed a lie detector test that he did not knowingly take steroids. Sherk also claimed errors were made in lab testing procedures, as three people tested immediately prior to him tested positive for steroids, however the lab has not confirmed or admitted these errors. Sherk claims that the failure of the lab to properly test the vials used in the earlier, positive tests for any remaining steroid content may have resulted in his sample becoming contaminated with nandrolone. Following the CSAC's decision to uphold the results of the positive steroid test (although simultaneously reducing his suspension to six months), the UFC officially stripped Sherk of the lightweight title. The match between BJ Penn and Joe Stevenson at UFC 80 was then changed to be for the official lightweight title instead of an interim title. Penn defeated Stevenson, and the UFC has officially announced that Penn's first title defense will be against Sherk, who was reinstated by UFC in April 2008. The date has been set for May 24th 2008 at UFC 84: Ill Will.

[edit] Personal life

Sherk and his wife have two sons.
He currently coaches a team of fighters with coaches Greg Nelson, Nat McIntyre, Andy Grahn, Ryan Murray, Ishmael Bentley and Rick Noyes at the Minnesota Martial Arts Academy. Other fighters include Brock Lesnar, Brock Larson, Nick Thompson, Logan Clark, Jacob Volkmann, Kaitlin Young, Nat McIntyre and Saul Mitchell.
Sherk loves pit bulls.
Sherk is an avid fan of the television series Friends and Entourage.