Will Sean Sherk Become the Lightweight Rich Franklin?
by Nate Wilcox on Dec 10, 2008 10:02 AM EST
in MMA News
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On the heels of the news that Diego Sanchez is moving to 155lbs to fight as a lightweight, MMA Weekly reports that former UFC lightweight champion Sean Sherk is already calling him out:
"If he wants to drop to 155, I'd like to be the first guy that fights him," Sherk said.
...
"I think I match up great with him," Sherk said. "I think his ground game is phenomenal, but so is mine. I know his conditioning is phenomenal. So is mine. His boxing... is okay. But I think it would be a great match-up. You get two guys that are really aggressive fighters who have great conditioning who are going to go and bang it out for fifteen minutes."
I hope I'm wrong, but I think there's a very good chance that Sherk can smother Sanchez and grind out a decision. Combine that with Sherk's utter domination of #1 contender Kenny Florian in their title match and Sherk's win over Tyson Griffin and you've got an ugly situation at lightweight.
Sean Sherk could easily become the Rich Franklin of the UFC lightweights: a dangerous fighter who can snuff out the title hopes of all the top contenders and yet stands almost no chance to take the belt himself.
Sure Sherk has only lost one fight to B.J. Penn and I'd be happy to see him get a second shot if he earns it, but its pretty clear from the first fight what the outcome of a rematch would be.
Also like Franklin, Sherk is a good buddy of Dana White's and is unlikely to be cut from the organization.
Of course, if B.J. beats GSP and holds both the 155 and 170lb belts, then Sherk could help out by beating the top lightweights and B.J. could just drop back by the division once a year and beat Sherk.
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I agree with most of what you say here except for one thing. I don’t think it’s pretty clear what the outcome would be in a rematch with BJ. It would be my hope that Sherk wouldn’t perform his ‘boxing T-Rex’ routine next time he fought BJ and he’d play to this strengths by taking BJ down and wearing him out.
That is my hope as well, however, should he be beaten convincingly a second time, this scenario could easily come to pass.
by Nate Wilcox on Dec 10, 2008 10:35 AM EST up reply actions
I think diego wins(granted he’s ok with the weight change) if sherk sticks with his trex boxing gameplan from his last 2 fights..
http://weoweoweo.deviantart.com/
by Anton Tabuena on Dec 10, 2008 10:44 AM EST up reply actions
Granted Diego’s hands are a lot better than Sherk – Diego’s ground game is better too.
"My job is a decision-making job, and as a result, I make a lot of decisions." --George W. Bush, The Decider, Lancaster, Pa., Oct. 3, 2007
by lovingmma25 on Dec 10, 2008 10:59 AM EST up reply actions
very likely, I might even pick Diego over Sherk. But none of the other guys in the division currently seem likely to get past Sherk — except possibly Gray Maynard.
by Nate Wilcox on Dec 10, 2008 11:05 AM EST up reply actions
I agree completely...
the last thing I expected from him was a calm paced boxing match. I was expecting him to force the pace and go for takedown after takedown where even if Penn stuffed it he started to get tired from having to battle.
SO I think there is a reasonable question about a rematch…but I still think Penn takes it 75 times out of 100
Contributing Editor - BloodyElbow.com - SBNation's mixed martial arts headquarters.
by Brent Brookhouse on Dec 10, 2008 10:48 AM EST up reply actions
T-rex?
Tiihiii. Look at ìm waving those short little arms! Soooo cuuute! Can I pet him? Can I?? (let`s just all hope the electricity to the fence fails.)
"They called him the axe-murderer because he was murdering chumps. They should have been calling him the chump-murderer..." Rampage Jackson (commentating on the fighting abilities of Wanderlei "F#ck Chuck" Silva.)
by BlueberryMuffin on Dec 10, 2008 11:26 AM EST up reply actions
Sherk can always do what Franklin did and move up a weight class… Oh wait… No matter what happens in January he’s screwed. BJ beat him and so did GSP
i dont think sherk could hold down diego and smother him. sherk left the ww division to get away from guys like diego. fighters he cant just overpower. i think diego is still a top ww and will be an even better lw if he can cut the weight properley. i think dana is only asking diego to move down, so there could be a new challenge for b.j. at lw.
I have wanted to see BJ and Diego fight for a while now.
"My job is a decision-making job, and as a result, I make a lot of decisions." --George W. Bush, The Decider, Lancaster, Pa., Oct. 3, 2007
by lovingmma25 on Dec 10, 2008 12:23 PM EST up reply actions
I think guys like Matt Hughes and Georges St. Pierre had more to do with Sherk leaving the welterweight division. Diego isn’t the overpowering welterweight. I’ve always seen him more as being relentless rather than overpowering. Sherk may have the wrestling edge here.
maybe not overpowering, but more overwhelming. i think dana re-created the lw division for sherk, b/c he was too small for the ww division. i think diego is just as good now as hughes was when he fought sherk, maybee not as strong a wrestler, but with much better stand-up. all the guys sherk has beat at lw was b/c he had the size and strength advantage except maybe franca, who had sherk on queer street a couple of times with the knees and penn tkoed sherk with the knee. thats how i see diego winning, with a well place knee when sherk is shooting. if sherk chose to keep it standing ,diego would beat sherk in the stand up b/c he has a huge height and reach advantage. i though sherk’s win over griffin was razor-thin and was due to the fact that he slightly out worked tyson. he wont have that luxury against diego.
Why do people assume Franklin would beat all the other contenders when he has only faced a small fraction of them? He beat Okami and MacDonald, I hardly consider that cleaning out the division
and for the record, I strongly disagree with the UFC’s approach to Franklin. With the possibility of Silva retiring or moving up in weight, it makes no sense to put Franklin in that same division too.
I also am skeptical that Franklin can beat all the top guys at 185 — I doubt he’d beat Okami in a rematch. We’ll find out against Henderson though even if its at the wrong weight.
He beat Okami and MacDonald
… and Lutter, Quarry (who half of the people here seem to think will beat Silva in a rematch — me most definitely not included), Tanner Louiseau …
I don’t necessarily disagree with you that there were a lot of potential fights left for Rich at MW. But he looked pretty dominant against most guys except Silva (and the Okami fight was still … strange). But it’s not like he “only” beat Okami and MacDonald, as he did beat several other “top” MWs as well.
I think at this point Sherk could hold ANYONE down at 155 lbs and win a decision in 3 rounds. I was atcually surprised that his fight w/ Griffin went over like it did. I need to watch it again but I was surprised when Sherk’s hand was raised.
Either way, it’s a sucky situation to be in to be so great and have someone super duper great above you as the champion.
I scored it for Sherk because he went for and got takedowns and at one point even had Griffin’s back. Between that and narrowly winning the striking fight, Sherk won.
I like to see a fighter to try get dominant position and win the fight conclusively.
I hate to see guys who are content to win sloppy kickboxing matches with no KO power or possibility of a definitive conclusion. MMA is about dominance, not point scoring.
I think the UFC is gonna throw Sherk through a 155 gaultlet before giving him another title shot. I’m talking at least 2-4 more wins against top guys like Maynard, Huerta, Edgar, Fisher.
And the fact that Sherk isn’t in a lot of top ten lists is a complete joke. IMO, he would be the favorite in fights against Aoki, Hansen, Thomson, and Gomi
I think Sherk-Sanchez would be a great fight. Either fighter becomes eligible for a title shot due to their name and reputation. If nothing else it creates a new number one contender.
As to the Rich Franklin comparison, I’m not so sure Franklin could dominate the rest of the middleweight division the way Sherk could own most lightweights. In terms of never being better than #2 Sherk and Franklin are in the same boat.
Too matter-of-fact
Sherk had the entirely wrong gameplan against BJ in their first bout. I’m not saying he’d win, but I’m curious to see how he’ll do if he fights like Sean Sherk.
Yes – he may not be in the title hunt, but with smart matchmaking this doesn’t necessarily mean that Sherk is completely irrelevant or somehow deserves to be cut. It’s still possible for him to make a career by fighting in intriguing fights; fights that will not preclude his opponent’s career if they lose.
Franklin vs Henderson, in my opinion, is the type of fight that gets around this problem. Regardless of implications, it’s an intriguing fight in and of itself.
He most certainly is
If BJ defeats him again, that’ll silence contention talks for good (unless the title changes hands to someone else). But until then, Sherk is a Top Five 155er and he is undoubtedly in line for another shot after one more victory over a Top 10 lightweight.
by Charles Awad on Dec 10, 2008 8:51 PM EST up reply actions
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