Sean Sherk

Fighter Name : Sean Sherk
Nickname : Muscle Shark
Title : UFC Lightweight Champion
Record (as of July 8, 2007 ) 32-2-1
Next Fight : Unknown (perhaps BJ Penn)

Most newer UFC fans were introducted to Sean Sherk in his gutsy ground and pound victory over Kenny Florian as they re-introduced the lightweight division to the UFC. Sherk won a 5 round decision in that fight in spite of having a gushing cut for almost the full 5 rounds. I found myself wondering if Sean would be too weakened by the weight cut, combined with the blood loss to continue, but Sean showed his true heart by finishing and finishing strong.

As his record shows, Sean Sherk has a wealth of Mixed Martial Arts experience and if we look a little deeper, we can see that it isn't one of those padded records. The "Muscle Shark" has faced some of the top fighters in the world (mostly at 170 pounds).

Sean Sherk holds two victories over highly regarded welterweight Karo Parysan as well as a win over Karo's cousin Manny Gamburyan. Manny has gained fame as of late by his performance in the Ultimate Fighter season 5 where he ultimately lost to Nate Diaz in the finale because of a recurring shoulder injury. Sherk also has wins over Benji Radach, Nick Diaz and Kenny Florian.

Sean never could crack the top of the welterweight division, with his two losses coming to Matt Hughes and Georges St Pierre. Seans performance against Hughes should get some honorable mention as it went the distance, but St Pierre was just too much for Sean, probably being the deciding factor for Sherk to cut to lightweight.

Speaking of cutting weight, Sean Sherk must be the largest 155lb fighter that I've ever seen. He was a monster at 170 (but short) and is just hulkingly huge for a 155er. The weight cut didn't seem to bother him against Kenny Florian though as he seemed to have full energy for the full 5 rounds.

Sean Sherk's next opponent is Hermes Franca. Hermes has been on a tear lately and literally begged Dana White for a title shot (a la Georges St Pierre). Win or lose, I expect Sherk to be a factor in the UFC lightweight division for quite some time.

Here are some interesting fantasy fights for the "Muscle Shark":

• BJ Penn
  
• Takanori Gomi
  
• Spencer Fisher
  

Although I personally think that Sherk would destroy Spencer Fisher, the other two would be excellent matchups. I see Sherk defeating Gomi (widely regarded as the #1 lightweight in the world), but having a very hard time with BJ Penn.

Sean Sherk's last fight he defeated Hermes Franca in a 5 round unanimous decision. Franca was a game opponent, but Sherk's superior wrestling, conditioning and strength made for a bad night for Franca. Franca did land a number of good knees, but Sean Sherk obviously has a granite chin.

With the most recent season of the Ultimate Fighter TV series behind us, the UFC lightweight division has never looked better. Current UFC lightweight champion Sean "The Muscle Shark" Sherk is defending his belt at UFC 73 "Stacked" on July 7th, 2007. The challenger is Hermes Franca. Hermes is a submission specialist with extremely heavy hands. Just ask Spencer Fisher who was on the receiving end of one of those strikes during a January UFC event this year. Fisher was getting the upper hand, but one solid shot from Franca can change a fight.

Not only do Sherk and Franca need to worry about facing each other, the winner of this fight may very well face BJ Penn who showed that he can still make 155 and still look great in that division. BJ has been fighting well above 155 ever since his legendardy bout with Takanori Gomi in 2003. Penn just avenged his first ever loss (to Jens Pulver) at the Ultimate Fighter 5 Finale and if he decides to stay at lightweight is a nightmare for all who challenge him. BJ Penn has excellent stand up, heavy hands (ask Caol Uno who suffered an 11 second KO at the hands of Penn) and may very well be the best BJJ guy in MMA.

Ultimate Fighter newcomers Nate Diaz and Manny Gamburyan may not be quite ready for a title shot yet, but their time is coming. Manny is a pit bull, compact, lean and mean while Diaz fights a whole lot like his older brother Nick.

Of course, Spencer Fisher got over that loss to Hermes Franca and scored a unanimous decision against Sam Stout in what might be the fight of the year so far. Don't forget about Din Thomas who is also on fire in the octagon. Also, I'm still waiting for Matt Serra to decide to cut down to 155. Of course Matt Serra is a little busy right now holding on to the UFC welterweight belt that he won from Georges St Pierre. Serra's next defence comes against Matt Hughes in late December of this year. Before that fight though, Matt and Matt are coaches on the Ultimate Fighter season 6.

There is no way that the above is a complete list, but it's a start and a primer to what you'll see in terms of UFC title action for the next little while. Enjoy!

Here are ultimate-fighter.net's official predictions for UFC 73 "Stacked"

Chris Lytle vs Drew Fickett
Lytle looked fairly impressive in the Ultimate Fighter Finale loosing a close decision to current UFC welterweight champion Matt Serra. Meanwhile, Drew Fickett holds wins over mega contender Josh Koscheck and Josh Neer. Fickett has also fought and lost to Josh Burkman, but has beated Kenny Florian. This is a tough one to pick, but given Lytle's fights with Matt Hughes and Matt Serra, I'm going to give the edge to Chris Lytle.

UFC 73 Prediction : Chris Lytle

Big Nog vs Heath Herring
Minotauro Nogueira vs Heath Herring is Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira's UFC debut fight, but it should be Heath Herring who is nervous. Big Nog already holds a win over Herring as well as wins over Mirko Cro Cop, Josh Barnett and Ricco Rodriguez. His match against the monsterous Bobb Sapp is legendary. Minotauro's only weakness is his takedown defense, but that's rarely been a problem since his BJJ is unmatched in the heavyweight ranks. Clearly I'm picking Minotauro to win this fight.

UFC 73 Prediction : Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira

Anderson Silva vs Nate Marquardt
Anderson Silva stormed onto the UFC scene with a big KO win over Chris Leben. He followed that up by crushing Rich Franklin and winning the UFC middleweight title. He's sort of defended the title once (sort of because Travis Lutter didn't make weight) and won a submission victory over Lutter, but not before Lutter showed some holes in Silva's game, mainly his take down defense. Now, in Silva's defence, he was injured at the time and Travis Lutter is a real world class BJJ specialist.

Nathan Marquardt holds victories over some pretty impressive fighters, including Dean Lister, Crafton Wallace, Joe Doerksen and Ivan Salaverry. The real question is "can he beat Anderson Silva?" All of Nate's top wins have come by submission or decision, which matches up nicely with Anderson Silva who's losses have only come by submission or decision. Now, most of Anderson Silva's wins are by TKO, while Nathan has never been TKO'd. All of this leads me to believe that this will be a great fight. Although many "experts" have been picking Marquardt to win this fight, I have to go with the champ.

UFC 73 Prediction : Anderson Silva

Tito Ortiz vs Rashad Evans
Tito has more experience and better ground and pound than Rashad. The rest I put even.

UFC 73 Prediction : Tito Ortiz

Sean Sherk vs Hermes Franca
My head says that Sean Sherk is too strong and too good a wrestler, but my heart says that Hermes Franca will find a way to win this fight.

UFC 73 Prediction : Hermes Franca

The UFC 73 Fight Card, named appropriately "Stacked" has been finalized according to UFC.com. Of course, we've known all about this stellar card for a long time, but here is the official version from UFC.com.

First of all, there are two title fights. The middleweight and lightweight titles are on the line on July 7th.

UFC Middleweight Title Fight:
Anderson Silva vs Nate Marquardt

UFC Lightweight Title Fight:
Sean Sherk vs Hermes Franca

If there were no other fights on the UFC 73 Fight Card than those two, it would still be worth watching, but in the immortal words of Ronco, but wait, there's more!

How about the UFC debut of top heavyweight submission artist Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira facing Heath Herring in what is sure to be a match set up to decide a UFC Heavyweight title shot.

and there is also the return of lightweight wizard Kenny Florian who faces UFC newcomer Alvin Robinson

and the night is rounded out with three more fights:
Jorge Gurgel vs Diego Saraiva
Chris Lytle vs Drew Fickett
Frank Edgar vs Mark Bocek

But wait, there's more!

Stephan Bonnar is also back in the octagon, taking on Ultimate Fighter season three alumni Mike Nickels.

Ok, if I stopped here you would buy the PPV, wouldn't you, but as I said before...wait, there's more:
Tito Ortiz vs Rashad Evans
Who knows if the bad blood between these two is for real, or just their attempt to hype the fight. Let me tell you, this fight does not need hype. It will be an all out war between two wrestlers who've improved every aspect of their game. I am not looking forward to having to do a prediction on this fight!

Remember to stop by UFC Ultimate Fighter for UFC 73 Predictions in the coming days/weeks and UFC 73 Results following the fight

Just a quick update on a bunch of different things:

Upcoming UFC events
UFC 71 - Chuck Liddell vs Quinton Jackson May 26th
UFC Fight Night Live - Sam Stout vs Spencer Fisher June 12
UFC 72 - Rich Franklin vs Yushin Okami June 16th
Ultimate Fighter 5 Finale Jens Pulver vs BJ Penn June 23rd
UFC 73 - Tito Ortiz vs Rashad Evans July 7

Looks like the next month and a half will be extremely exciting for the UFC fans out there. Also, lets not forget the debut's of Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira and Mauricio Shogun Rua. Also Forrest Griffin, Keith Jardine, Heath Herring, Anderson Silva, Nate Marquardt, Kenny Floirian, Chris Leben, Sean Sherk, Hermes Franca and a number of other big names are spread across these cards. Keep tuned here for predictions on all the big fights.

Also, post a comment on who you'd like to see Shogun face first in the UFC. I think he should warm up with Stephan Bonner.

UFC 73 is shaping up to be one of the best cards ever. With two championship bouts and the debut of Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira this card will be amazing. When is the last time you saw a Tito Ortiz bout take the back seat to three other bouts on a card?

Champion Sean Sherk vs Hermes Franca
Champion Anderson Silva vs Nate Marquardt
Heath Herring vs Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira
Rashad Evans vs Tito Ortiz
Kenny Florian vs Alvin Robinson
Stephan Bonnar vs Mike Nickels
Jeff Joslin vs Chris Lytle
Jorge Gurgel vs Diego Saraiva

It looks like the Sean Sherk vs Hermes Franca match will take place as part of UFC 74. This according to UFCJunkie.com. Also mentioned on junkie was Randy Couture vs (probably Mirko Cro Cop), expected to be on the same card.

For more, see UFCJukie.com