Cooler heads prevail as Sherk gets stripped of title

As two of the most promising prospects in the lightweight division battled it out yesterday at the Ultimate Fighter Finale, the champion of the division, Sean Sherk was suffering the consequences of losing his own battle. The battle to keep his Lightweight belt.

The UFC management decided to strip Sherk of his title after the California State Athletic Commission found him guilty after his UFC 73 title defense against Hermes Franca when he tested positive for a banned substance. This decision means now that the UFC 80 main event between Joe Stevenson and B.J. Penn will be upgraded from an Interim Title Fight to a fight for the vacant Lightweight belt.

This decision made by the UFC in my opinion was a tough call but the right call. Whether or not you believe Sherk when he says he is innocent, the bottom line is he was found guilty by the CSAC and the UFC had to act accordingly.

If the UFC did not strip Sherk then people from outside the sport looking in, such as the mainstream media would have only seen a fighter who is the champion of his weight class get convicted for steroids by an athletic commission but not punished by the organisation he belongs to. Being weak on steroids is not a tag the UFC wants when they are on the cusp of mainstream acceptance.

The UFC is also right now attempting to get MMA sanctioned in every state in the US. How would it look to the various athletic commissions who have not sanctioned MMA when the premiere organisation is seen to have ignored a ruling by a fellow commission?

The fight between Penn and Stevenson which was set to headline the UFC 80 card in in England would also have been greatly devalued if Sherk kept his title. Having the main event being for an interim title would have been redundant considering the champin was able to return prior to the event taking place. Therefore, stripping Sherk greatly benefits the card as now its for the actual championship. The UFC is putting a lot of effort into expanding into England, and to do that they need appealing cards. A pointless interim title match up would not suffice.

This must be devastating for Sherk who strongly denies any steroid usage. It also doesn’t help his cause, even if he does manage to clear his name, as the impression is left in the minds of the people who do not know the full story that he is a “drug cheat”.

Considering Dana White’s friendship with Sherk, this decision can not have been an easy one. But the damage that could have been caused if the decision was not made means it was a necessary one.

CSAC reduces Sherk’s sentence

After many attempts and many subsequent reschedules, Sean Sherk’s hearing to appeal a failed drug test from his victory at UFC 73 finally ended today.

The California State Athletic Commission upheld the $2500 fine and also found Sherk guilty but reduced his sentence to 6 months with time served. This means “The Muscle Shark” will be eligible to fight in January.

Sherk is very unhappy with the commission’s ruling and has vowed to continue to try and clear his name.

To me, the only way the CSAC could possibly have ruled the way they did was that they believed the positive Sherk tested was legitimate but that he did not knowingly ingest the steroids. If this is not the CSAC’s thinking, then the decision makes absolutely no sense, because if someone is judged to have consciously taken steroids then they should receive the maximum penalty. If you reduce the sentence but still say the person consciously ingested them then how can you can possible justify the reduction? Are they saying, “Sure he was on steroids… but only a little bit.”?

The ruling also causes a massive headache for the UFC. An interim title match for the Lightweight championship between B.J. Penn and Joe Stevenson is currently set for January 19th. The reduction of Sherk’s sentence means that he is eligible for a return to competition on January 5th meaning now an Interim title seems pointless because the champion is capable of fighting at the time of the bout.

Also, UFC president Dana Whitehas also recently stated that he will honour the commissions decision and will probably strip Sherk of his title if found guilty. Now that Sherk, even though his punishment was reduced, was found guilty will Dana White strip Sherk of his title.

If he does, it will help out UFC 80 in that the Penn vs Stevenson fight would probably be for the vacant lightweight title but White would also be taking a title from his friend based on what many perceive to just be stubbornness on the CSAC’s part.

If he doesn’t he’ll have the UFC lightweight champ being inactive unnecessarily for a further 3 months or however long it takes for the winner of the UFC 80 clash to recover.

It is going to be very interesting to see what will happen when Dana White eventually sits down with Sean Sherk to discuss recent and future events. All I can say for now is,

Good Luck Sean on clearing your name.