While Major League Baseball and Roger Clemens have dominated the steroids-related sports headlines recently, there has been another sport singed by a performance enhancing drugs scandal: mixed martial arts.
The UFC and one of its top stars, Sean Sherk, faced an unpleasant situation last July when Sherk tested positive for steroids after successfully defending the UFC lightweight title against Hermes Franca at UFC 73. Sherk was suspended for a year by the California State Athletic Commission and was subsequently stripped of the title.
Sherk maintained his innocence and had his suspension cut in half after an appeal, but he has been unable to escape criticism. One of Sherk’s most vocal detractors has been B.J. Penn, who fittingly will be Sherk’s first opponent since his reinstatement. The fight will headline the pay-per-view card of Saturday’s UFC 84 in Las Vegas.
Penn beat Joe Stevenson in January to capture the lightweight title, which had been vacated due to Sherk’s suspension. Now that the top two lightweights will square off to determine the true king of the division, Penn is not backing down from his previous criticism.
“It’s hard (to accept) for me, a guy who has never used performance enhancing drugs before,” Penn said in a dual conference call Thursday. “Waking up day in and day out and your body is in pain and you’re doing all of these other things and it just gets to you after a while when you find out that someone else is using performance enhancing drugs. …I look at fighting as the most important thing in the world to me and when someone else goes and perverts it, I can’t take it, I can’t handle it.”
Penn repeatedly mocked Sherk about steroids during the conference call, though Sherk didn’t fire back. Having gone through the 10-month long process, his focus is on putting it behind him.
“I know what I did and what I didn’t do,” Sherk said. “I proved myself — I went above and beyond what it took for me to prove myself innocent. Anyone who followed my appeal and how it was handled and all the evidence would know. If you actually do the research, I didn’t take anything.”
While the steroids controversy adds some sizzle to the pre-fight hype, this is a bout that would be highly anticipated without any of the trash talk. Penn (13-4-1) is widely regarded as one of the most talented fighters in the UFC, while Sherk (35-2-1) has a long history of success.
Said UFC president Dana White: “It’s so rare that you get two of the greatest fighters ever in a weight division in their prime and you get to watch them square off and see who the best fighter in the world is. This is the kind of stuff that literally in the fight game is historical-type stuff.”
Leading up to the fight, Sherk isn’t the only facing questions about his past. Penn has always been considered a great fighter, but there have been questions about his work ethic and desire. Having won his last two fights, Penn says he’s a more motivated fighter.
“I put so much into this thing now,” Penn said. “Before I used to (loaf) and used to do all these things and it shows in the ring.”
Penn said he realized that training raggedly made him fight raggedly, so he’s been rededicated in the gym.
“That’s the difference with me now,” he said, “and that’s the difference you’ve seen with me fighting Jens Pulver and Joe Stevenson. I’m not doing this thing halfway. I’m going full speed.”
Sherk realizes this fight represents a shot at redemption.
“This is a chance for me to get something back that I feel still belongs to me,” Sherk said. “This fight’s really important. I get to get in there, I get to beat B.J., I get to get my belt back and become the two-time UFC lightweight world champion.”
Insiders: Penn mightier
With two of what White called the “greatest lightweights ever” squaring off, the Herald polled other top fighters in the division for their take on the fight, and clearly Penn deserves his status as the favorite.
Roger Huerta will be directly influenced by the result of the Penn-Sherk fight, as he will face Kenny Florian at UFC 87 on Aug. 9 in Minnesota to determine the No. 1 contender in the division. If Huerta beats Florian, he expects to face Penn for the title.
“All in all, I think B.J. Penn is going to win this fight,” Huerta said. “He’s just a well-rounded fighter. He has a lot in his arsenal, from standing to the ground to takedown defense. If he comes in shape, he should win this fight.”
Joe Lauzon, an up-and-comer in the division, has trained with Penn in Hawaii and his take on the fight is simple.
“I think B.J. is going win because there is nothing Sean Sherk can do to hurt B.J.,” the East Bridgewater fighter said. “B.J. is better than Sherk at just about everything.”
Sam Stout, who is coming off of a loss to Rich Clementi at UFC 83 in April, also predicted a Penn win, but doesn’t expect it to come easy.
“B.J. Penn is the most talented guy in the division,” Stout said. “Sherk is the hardest worker in the division. If B.J. comes in shape the way he has been, I think his balance and flexibility will be too much. Sherk will have a hard time taking him down. I think B.J. will win, but not in a landslide.” …
The UFC announced last week that heavyweights Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira and Frank Mir will be the coaches of the eighth season of “The Ultimate Fighter.” The first episode airs on Sept. 17 on Spike TV, and Nogueira and Mir will fight in a pay-per-view event at the end of the season.
