Sean Sherk Q & A

By Gary Herman

After what has been a very tumultuous ten months, Sherk has a chance to prove that he is still one of the top fighters in the UFC. In order to accomplish that, he must defeat a man many people believe is one of the top five pound-for-pound fighters in the world in BJ Penn.

What makes the match-up even more interesting is that Penn wears the title that Sherk never lost. Due to a positive test for steroids, Sherk had the UFC lightweight championship stripped from him. Penn won the vacant title with a dominating submission victory over Joe Stevenson in January, 2008. To this day, Sherk maintains his innocence from the steroid allegations.

We recently caught up with Sherk to discuss a number of subjects including the positive steroid test, his thoughts on the fast approaching match-up with Penn, and who he thinks the other top lightweights in the world are.

Question: What do you think about your upcoming fight with BJ Penn?

Sean Sherk: I think it will be great fight. You have two of the best lightweights in the world, and you have two guys that really don’t like each other so that always makes for a good fight.

Q: When you say, “two guys that don’t like each other a lot”, does that stem from Penn’s comments earlier this year after the positive steroid test?

SS: He’s been talking trash about me ever since the whole Nandrolone (steroid) thing so that’s when it started – right around the whole Nandrolone deal.

Q: Is that when Penn publicly went against you in the steroid issue when you maintain your innocence?

SS: Yes – he doesn’t have the work ethic I do. He doesn’t understand it is possible to look the way I do without taking any substances.

Q: You’re very well known for your work ethic and your ability to go five rounds. Penn had been known to tire in the later rounds of fights. Do you feel that will play a major role in the fight?

SS: Actually, I want to get out of there as fast as possible just like I’m sure he does. I’ll be looking for my opportunities, and if it goes into the later rounds, that’s fine by me. I’m not scared of the forth and fifth rounds like I’m sure he is.

Q: When BJ Penn grabbed the microphone after winning the fight with Stevenson and said, “Sean Sherk, you’re dead,” what were you thinking as you entered the cage to confront him?

SS: I knew he was going to talk trash about me after his fight. That’s the reason I flew all the way out to England so I could defend myself. I didn’t want to hear him say something about me while I was home sitting on my couch. I wanted to give myself an opportunity to defend myself. How am I supposed to respond to that? I’ll do my talking in the ring.

Q: When you came into the cage, the crowd gave you a negative reaction. How did that make you feel?

SS: Obviously, I thought it as pretty disrespectful for the fans to boo me. I’ve always been a real positive influence in MMA, and I have always treated the fans with a ton of respect. I make myself very approachable. I’ve always taken time out to take pictures, sign autographs and things of that nature. I don’t feel like I deserve to be booed, but I guess it is what is – I’m over it.

Q: This fight is being billed as the battle to be the best lightweight of all-time. Do you agree with that statement?

SS: Yes, I do. I’ve been on top of the world rankings for five or six years. B.J.’s also been on top for five or six years. We’ve both been ranked at 170 lbs. and we’ve both been ranked at 155 lbs. so this is definitely two of the best lightweights getting into the cage to find out who the best is and find out who the real UFC champ is.

Q: The fight will be you first fight back in about a year. The last fight was with Hermes Franca. Franca is still under suspension as he got a year suspension while you got six months. What is your reaction to him getting a longer suspension than what you had?

SS: My reaction is that he admitted to taking steroids, and he took steroids. I didn’t take steroids. I’ve done everything I can possible do to prove that. I don’t think I deserved to be suspended at all. I thought I had enough evidence to prove myself innocent with the polygraphs, the blood work, and all the mistakes that the testers made during the procedures. I thought that was enough, but apparently, it wasn’t.

Q: Just to clear the record – you don’t think there’s any chance at all the one of the supplements you take may have, unknowingly to you, contained steroids?

SS: I’ve gotten seven of my supplements tested. I was actually taking like twenty-five supplements. Seven of them that were vulnerable to be contaminated with something. We did find a testosterone booster in one of them and like I’ve said before, I’m not sure if that is what caused the Nandrolone test or not. I mean it’s definitely a possibility. There’s no way I could have gotten twenty-five supplements tested at $250. a pop. That would have been a lot of money. I guess it’s a possibly one of them could have been contaminated, but my gut feeling is there was a mistake made in the lab.

Q: So to your knowledge, you never took steroids and you would never take steroids?

SS: Yes. Correct.

Q: Is there anything you’re doing now to be sure something like this doesn’t happen again in the future?

SS: I’ve cut the amount of supplements I’m taking in half. I think that will help. I’m taking more time to read the ingredients to make sure there is nothing that will make me test positive – a false positive. I’ve done two pretests in Nevada in the last ten weeks so I know that I am good to go.

Q: The Nevada State Athletic Commission made the results public that both yourself and BJ Penn passed the random drug test.

SS: I took a drug test as well eight weeks ago. In Nevada, they need to clear you before giving you a license and then there was the random test a couple of weeks ago so I’ve taken two of them so far.

Q: Is that common to give random tests?

SS: They just started doing random tests. They just a passed a rule where they are going to randomly test athletes that are fighting in Vegas so it hasn’t been common, but is something they are going to do from here on out. To be honest with you, I’m a fan of it. I’ve been tested twice in the last ten weeks now. Now, there’s no way I can get a false positive now because I was just tested. That clears me. It gives me some backup as well. I was going to get myself tested anyway prior to the test just for safety reasons.

Q: The upcoming fight is in Nevada. However, the UFC also comes to California a couple of times a year. California is where the steroid test problems occurred. You had previously mentioned that you would never fight in California again. Is that still true?

SS: I don’t want to fight in California. I don’t like the way the CSAC handles the fighters. They don’t treat us with a whole lot of respect. As far as everything I’ve been through – even before the case – I didn’t like fighting there.

Q: When you say you don’t like how they treated you, what do you mean?

SS: They just don’t treat us well. Before the fight, they are bossing us around. They’re yelling at us that you can’t have food in the locker room. You can’t have anything to drink. You can’t do this and you can’t do that.

They wouldn’t let me listen to my headphones when I was walking out to a fight – made me feel like I was in third grade. I’m getting ready for a fight here and you’re telling me I can’t wear my headphones? I’m literally walking out to my fight with Nick Diaz, and the guy is telling me if I don’t talk off my headphones, they are going to fine me. So I take my headphones off and the first thing I see is a fan flicking me off and telling me I’m going to get knocked out. I tell the guy this is the reason I want to wear my headphones. I don’t need to hear that.

Q: Another state the UFC is looking to go to is Minnesota in August. Being that you’re from Minnesota, is that a card you’d like to appear on?

SS: Definitely. The UFC coming to Minnesota is a dream come true for me. I’ve been fighting and wrestling in Minnesota my whole life so for me to be able to fight in the biggest show in the world – right in my backyard – that would be awesome.

Q: Already scheduled for the August show are two other lightweights in Roger Huerta and Kenny Florian. What do you think about that fight?

SS: I think it’s a good fight. It could possibly put one of those two in title contention.

Q: Could you see yourself fighting the winner down the line should you be victorious against Penn?

SS: Potentially. I think there are a couple of guys right now working their way up towards title shots.

Q: Which fighters do you think are in title contention at this time?

SS: I was thinking about that. Nate Diaz has a couple wins under his belt. He’s getting up there. Roger and Kenny both have had a few wins. Gray Maynard recently had a very big win over Frankie Edgar. He’s about one win away. Those are the four guys. Joe Stevenson isn’t far away if he can get back on track.

Q: You just mentioned Nate Diaz. What did you think about Nate Diaz flipping off his opponent right before getting the submission victory at the last UFC Fight Night?

SS: I didn’t see it, but that’s just how he is I guess - to each his own.

Q: We’re getting close to match time. What’s it like for you in the few days leading up to the fight?

SS: Right now, I am just trying to train hard as always. I want to keep everything tight and keep everything clean. I want to get a lot of sleep. I try not to have any type of stress. I do what I always do – train hard and stay relaxed.