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Sean Sherk: I’ve accomplished more in MMA than 95% of the other fighters have
By Zach Arnold | September 14, 2010
Sherdog recently did a radio interview with Sean Sherk to talk about his upcoming fight with Evan Dunham on September 25th in Indianapolis. Even though it was a somewhat short interview at around 13 minutes long, it featured a lot of good questions and even more interesting answers.
(Questions are paraphrased and answers are transcriptions.)
Heading into your UFC 119 fight against Evan Dunham, what does this fight mean to you after such a long layoff?
“Um, it means a lot. It’s exciting. I’ve been out for a little while, struggled with some injuries, had to kind of take a little of bit time off, lick my wounds, get myself healed up again and now I feel great, you know, physically and mentally I feel better than I have in a long time so I’m ready, ready to go to war.”
Evan Dunham is the undefeated up-and-comer who has a lot of good skills. What kind of challenge does he present?
“Obviously I think he’s got some great athleticism, got some good wrestling, good jiu-jitsu, good striking. I think he’s very well-rounded, young, up-and-coming, he’s hungry, so I think he poses a lot of problems, you know, I mean he wants to be the best-of-the-best and in order to be the best-of-the-best you’ve got to beat the best of the best and I’m the guy standing in his way right now, so we’ll see.”
After initially talking about the Dunham fight, a lot of the questions talked about his injuries, the layoff, and what his future goals are in the sport. Plus, his attitude on MMA fans and the way he is perceived.
Coming back after a long layoff, it seems like some people have written you off. You’re a big underdog in this fight (2-to-1). In the last 7 1/2 years, you have three losses — all to UFC champions (Georges St. Pierre, BJ Penn, and Frankie Edgar.) Do you feel you’re getting a raw deal from the media and some of the fans?
“To be honest with you, I don’t ever go online. I don’t read any press. I don’t read any interviews. I don’t listen to what the fans say, it really doesn’t matter to me, you know. I’ve been the underdog. I’m actually surprised that I am the underdog. I’ve accomplished more than 95% of the fighters in the world have accomplished so it kind of surprises me that I would be considered an underdog. But, uh… you know, whatever. That’s great, you know. I’ve been dealing with adversity and stuff like that my entire career so I guess this wouldn’t be any different.”
Right now there are a lot of questions about wrestlers coming into MMA and having boring fights. You started as a wrestler and evolved your game and you go out there and you’re a striker. Was there any pressure or anything in mind that influenced your fight style or did your striking just get better?
“Well, I’ve been boxing for a really long time ever since I first started fighting I was working my boxing a long time before my first fight so I just think just with the evolution of Mixed Martial Arts and what the evolution of my fighting game it was time to bring my boxing to the front of my game plans, I guess, you know, add it to my repertoire so now people got to worry about obviously take downs, they got to worry about my ground game, now they got to worry about my boxing ability, too, so I wanted to become more of a three-dimensional type of fighter and I just thought that, you know, the time was right.”
Do you think the influx of wrestlers coming into MMA has made the sport stale? Fans say that wrestlers taking guys down and just sitting on them is not exciting to watch.
“I don’t think so, you know, I think that this sport has, I think every style has had a place in the sport, you know, for a while a lot of the strikers were kind of dominating the industry and then the jiu-jitsu guys are dominating the sport and then the wrestlers were dominating the sport, then it went back to the strikers, then it went to the karate guys and I mean every one… every style has a place in this sport, I just think right now the wrestler and the wrestling ability with the athleticism and the takedowns and the takedown defense and things of that nature, they’re at the pinnacle of the sport so I think, you know, eventually the strikers will start to learn how to sprawl a little better and force those wrestlers to keep the fight up on the feet.”
It’s been over a year since you’ve last fought. Are you anticipating having a slow start or ring rust?
“No, not at all. I’ve been competing since I was 7 years old, you know, it’s not like you just forget how to fight, you know, because you took a year off. I think, if anything, I’m totally 100% rejuvenated and I’m excited to get in the Octagon again. So, I don’t anticipate any type of ring rust, you know, I’ve had about a 17-week training camp for this so it’s not like I’m sitting at home on my butt watching TV, eating potato chips, and I just decided to jump off the couch and fight. I’ve had 17 weeks of preparation for this thing so I’ll be more than ready.”
Any chance of over-training?
“No. No. I mean, when I say 17 weeks I mean, you know, 6 of those 17 weeks were just technique, technique, technique, technique and you know 11 or 12 of those 17 weeks were training camp, you know, sparring, still doing technique, foot work, you know, all kinds of different conditioning and lifting weights and 11-12 weeks of preparation. That’s how I always do it, so I think that my timing and preparation was perfect for this fight.”
The way you lost the belt was certainly not how you envisioned it, but do you see yourself as a guy who can get back to the top at age 37 and compete against a guy like Frankie Edgar who you got decisioned by? Is that your ultimate goal?
“You know, I mean everyone keeps bringing up this age thing and I mean when I fought Frankie I didn’t get my ass kicked by any means, you know. I chased the guy around the Octagon for three rounds and I lost a decision so I didn’t get beat up, I didn’t get taken down, I didn’t get hurt, I didn’t get knocked down. So, as far as me not being able to compete, I still think I’m one of the best fighters in the world, you know, I’m a force to be reckoned with and everything thinks that I’m not. Anyone thinks that I’m not, they can step in the Octagon with me.”
There comes a time when you got to kind of start looking at the end of the road. Doesn’t sound like you’re there yet.
“I’m not even close to being there, you know, I’ve got all of kinds of stuff left to offer this industry and the sport so I’m not going anywhere for a long time, you know, I haven’t lost any athleticism and I haven’t lost any of ability, I’ve only gotten better and I’ve only gotten smarter.”
Another win might put you in position to get a crack at the title. Is that something you’re aiming for right away? Do you want a shot at Frankie Edgar?
“I would love to fight for another belt, you know, whoever ends up with the belt six months or a year from now, whatever the case is, I’d love to be the guy that gets another shot at that belt.”
Penn was just overwhelmed by Edgar. What’s it like fighting a guy who just darts in-and-out like Edgar? Never gives you the clean shot. How hard is it to fight him?
“To be honest with you, I don’t want to make any excuses, but I mean that was the most frustrating fight of my career by far, you know, I mean I showed up ready for a fight and I left feeling unsatisfied, I left feeling as if I didn’t even get into a fight, you know, I went for four or five mile run after that fight, I was so pissed off. I mean, it just… it’s just not what I showed up for and that was his game plan, obviously, was to pepper me and hit-and-run and he beat me and he did the same thing to BJ in the first fight so that’s up to him, you know, he was able to implement his game plan and I wasn’t so he got the win.”
In a re-match, would you change things up?
“Oh yeah, I mean obviously I would have to change things up next time around. You know, I’d have to think of a different game plan because the game plan for the first fight didn’t work. But that’s obviously a long time down the road. I got to worry about the guy that I’m fighting in two weeks which is Evan Dunham, so he’s going to pose some problems and we’ll see what kind of fight he brings and I got a couple of different game plans in mind, kind of depends on what happens in the Octagon.”
Evan Dunham comes to fight, you’re not going to have to go for a five mile run after this one. He likes to trade, fight on the ground, he’s going to go anywhere you want to go. You going to put him on his back?
“Game plan is to win. You know, I’m going to have to fight a three-dimensional fight. I’m going to have to use my boxing, I’m going to have to use my wrestling, and I’m going to have to use my jiu-jitsu ability. I think this fight is going to be many different areas, you know, it’s going to be all over the place and I guess it’s going to come down to, again like I said before, who’s able to implement their game plan.”
You’ve had some tough injuries that have cost you some fights. How has your recovery process gone and how angry are you when you want to fight and then you can’t due to injuries?
“It’s very frustrating, you know I mean I’ve had my fair share of injuries but, you know, I mean I’ve trained so hard over the years and I feel like I had to train hard to prepare myself 100% for these fights, fighting a lot of tough guys, you know, I haven’t really fought anybody that has been outside of the Top 10 since 2005, you know, when I fought Georges St. Pierre. Everyone I’ve fought has been a Top 10 guy, has been a world champion or has been a #1 ranked contender so I’ve had to train my butt off to make sure I’ve been ready for all these fights and I did what I needed to do, there’s no regrets but unfortunately after training that hard for that long your body’s eventually going to start giving out on you but I took some time off, I had a couple of really good doctors I was working with… I was able to get 100% healed and rehabbed and when I started this training camp I felt better than I’ve ever felt before and I still do and I’m two weeks out so I don’t see any problems arising within the next two weeks.”
A lot of people have questioned your injuries. You say you don’t read the press, but Monte Cox in the past was quick to send out medical back-up for what had happened, x-rays and reports. Is it discouraging to you to hear people questioning your injuries?
“Oh, saying that I wasn’t hurt? You know, is it frustrating? No. I expect it. I’ve had a lot of highs and lows with the fans over the years, obviously you know the fans, some of the fans a lot of them are fair-weather, they love you one minute and they hate you the next so you can’t take that stuff personal. Like I said, I mean, that’s the reason why I don’t go anywhere near the internet because I don’t need any negative feedback or any negative energy so I don’t go anywhere near the Internet and I’m not really into that kind of stuff. If the fans doubt that I’m hurt, then I guess that’s on them, that’s not really on me.”
Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 7 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Sherk is historically underrated. He has only lost to the best of the best, and I think he took two rounds from Hughes at Hughes’ absolute apex.
I had Sherk winning 2 rouns against Hughes as well.
He has only lost to Hughes, GSP, Penn, & Edgar. Which basically means he is a champions gatekeeper.
With that said, I see him losing this fight. He has been off for like 18 months. He is getting up there in age. I think he loses this fight and it starts the downward part of his career.
I also think Dunham is gonna cream him. The UFC wouldn’t have put a young star against an old, big name fighter with no drawing power like Sherk unless they were sure he was going to win. I think Sherk is slightly better than Tyson Griffin, and Tyson Griffin was absolutely embarrassed against Dunham.
:). This is a fight i picked out for betting when I saw it made. Sherk is a lot quicker than Griffin, and he will be the one dictating the pace all fight. Im putting $500 on Sherk(or 400 depending on the Tibau/Miller fight).
Sherk is winning this fight.
I don’t think Sherk is much quicker than Griffin at all, and he is still a half foot shorter than Dunham, who is also much faster, and has great takedowns.
“You know, I mean everyone keeps bringing up this age thing and I mean when I fought Frankie I didn’t get my ass kicked by any means, you know. I chased the guy around the Octagon for three rounds and I lost a decision so I didn’t get beat up, I didn’t get taken down, I didn’t get hurt, I didn’t get knocked down.“
I guess he forgot about round 2 where he got dropped with a knee to the body.
[…] match was particularly interesting because Sherk had been away from the cage for over a year. In an interview with Sherdog leading up to fight night, he addressed the topic of ring rust: It’s been over a year since […]