According to MMA Fighting's Ariel Helwani, a former UFC champion has decided to hang up his gloves and retire. That man would be Sean Sherk, who held the lightweight belt in 2006-07 but hasn't competed in almost three years. Here's the tweet from Ariel:
The 40-year-old Sherk finished his career with a stellar 36-4-1 mark, and an 8-4 mark in the UFC. He made his debut in the organization as a welterweight way back at UFC 30 in 2001 with a win over Tiki Ghosn. Two more wins earned him a shot at 170-pound champion Matt Hughes, but he dropped the bout via decision. He returned at UFC 56 and was stopped by Georges St. Pierre, but rebounded with a decision win over Nick Diaz. Then came the drop to lightweight.
Sherk took part in the first title fight in the UFC's rebooted lightweight division at UFC 64, defeating Kenny Florian by decision to claim the title. He defended it successfully against Hermes Franca at UFC 73, but tested positive for Nandrolone and was forced to vacate the title. After serving his suspension, he came back and challenged new champ B.J. Penn for the title, but was stopped via TKO at the end of the third round.
After splitting a pair of fights with Tyson Griffin and Frankie Edgar in 2008-09, the injury bug hit. He pulled out of three straight fights with various injuries before finally returning against Evan Dunham at UFC 119. Sherk took the decision, but many felt that the judges got it wrong and that Dunham had won. Since then, injuries have derailed any chance of a comeback, and it seems that he has now decided to give up on a comeback and will hang 'em up.