Sean Sherk

Sean “The Muscle Shark” Sherk is the current UFC Lightweight champion. He began wrestling at a young age and developed his MMA training by combining aspects of wrestling with Muay Thai, Shooto and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. His MMA career began back in 1999 when he won his first fight in a Dangerzone MMA event.

After fighting and repeatedly winning in numerous smaller MMA tournaments and organizations, Sherk signed on with UFC in 2001. He made his UFC debut in UFC 30: Battle of the Boardwalk, where he defeated Tiki Ghosn by submission. Sherk fought his way through the UFC welterweight ranks for the next two years before getting a shot at the UFC Welterweight title at UFC 42: Sudden Impact. He fought title holder Matt Hughes, but lost in a unanimous decision. That would end up being Sherk’s last fight in the UFC for more than two years.

After his title-bout loss, Sherk bounced around in EC: Extreme Combat, PRIDE, ICC and other smaller organizations and even retired from MMA fighting for a short period after the birth of his first child.

Sherk’s return to MMA came in late 2005 when defeated Joel Blanton in BP: Pride in Glory. After that victory he was re-signed by UFC, but lost his first fight to Georges St. Pierre at UFC 56: Full Force. That loss lit a fire in Sherk, as he went on to defeat Nick Diaz and earn a title fight versus UFC Lightweight title holder Kenny Florian at UFC 64: Unstoppable, in October 2006. Sherk won the hard-fought bout by a unanimous decision and claimed the title, but he suffered a torn rotator cuff that would keep him out of the octagon for almost nine months.

In his first fight since the injury, Sherk successfully defended his UFC Lightweight title versus Hermes Franca with another unanimous decision victory at UFC 73: Stacked. His current MMA record stands at 35-2-1 with eight knockouts and 13 submissions.