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.