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Sean Sherk eligible to return to action in January
By Zach Arnold | December 4, 2007
The CSAC isn’t doing a 180-degree turn on Sean Sherk’s positive steroid test, but they cut their year-long suspension in half.
What is the point of suspending a fighter who failed a steroid test for a year when the track record with the CSAC appeals board is that they are likely to cut the length of suspension in half? Why not just make the punishment 6 months long instead of 12 months long for a failed steroid test?
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We all knew this would happen, but it still stinks. The only thing missing is Sherk sitting ringside in Newcastle with his belt and being recognized as the real champ who is ready to fight the interim-winner. Yuck and yuck.
Sherk went through way too much hassle for this whole thing. At the initial hearing he should’ve just followed Toney’s lead and called some board members ‘fucking cocksuckers’ and ‘assholes.’
He would have got the same result in less time, and would’ve saved himself some lawyer money.
[We all knew this would happen, but it still stinks. The only thing missing is Sherk sitting ringside in Newcastle with his belt and being recognized as the real champ who is ready to fight the interim-winner.]
Blame CSAC, not Sherk. I don’t understand upholding a suspension and reducing it at the same time. It’s almost like they’re saying he’s kind of guilty or he’s kind of innocent. Either throw it out or give the full year suspension, but this is the M.O. of CSAC - total incompetence.
Body_Shots: I was blaming the CSAC and (potentially) the UFC.
Dammit, the anti-spam for this post was “juiced”. Gotta love it
The whole process just proves that you should never admit you’re guilty.
Exactly, it does prove that you should never admit your guilt.
To be honest though, I’m surprised at the CSAC’s decision. I would have thought with the parade of evidence that really didn’t prove his innocence, and the blatant stupidity of the CSAC’s decisions in the past that Sherk would have beat the positive on the pure fact that he was parading so much crap in the CSAC’s faces that they would get confused.
Perhaps he should have just screamed at Christopher Giza like James Toney did.
Sadly, i think the answer to your question is six month suspensions would become 3 months and by the time they had the hearing a guy would be 4 months in and they’d be reimbursing him his fight purse and voiding the fines.
By the end of June, this issue will be a thing of the past. Sherk will fight the winner of Penn/Stevenson, and a unified champion will be established. Next step after that is to get the linear champion (Frank Edgar) to fight for the title to unify that fictional belt as well. Then everything will be nice in the land of the UFC Lightweights.
Suspension withheld or not, Sherk is feeling the hit where it counts the most: in his pocketbook. As long as Sherk has to wait until June for his next fight, his effective time out is still basically a year.
If Zuffa dumps Stevenson from Penn/Stevenson and fast-tracks Sherk instead, then and only then, will Sherk have beat his 1-year suspension. Hopefully Zuffa has enough sense to NOT do this.
But who knows if the UFC has paid him a “salary” during his time away. Anything is possible, especially if they supported him.
I’ve never heard that UFC pays ANY fighter a salary. Given how Sherk mouthed off about UFC and Dana on HDNet over the weekend, I wouldn’t bet on it having happened here either.