Just because you don't like a specific fighter does not mean you don't or shouldn't respect them. Hell...i'm not a fan of Fedor's by any means but I respect the fact that he is probably the best MMA fighter of our time and if he jumps back into action and continues to win against the elite he will definitely go down as the G.O.A.T.

Enter Sean Sherk! I'm not a fan of wrestlers in the world of MMA. Most of the time I find myself falling into a deep coma during a bout controlled by a wrestler who wins off of his ability to put his opponent down and keep him there the entire fight. That is boring...and most educated fans will agree (note: the casual fan that only wants to see boxing in the cage does not count in this argument).

Sean Sherk is a wrestler plain and simple. He's a wrestler with exceptional submission defense, insane cardio and decent boxing...but he's still a wrestler none the less. He may not have shown the ability to finish a fight, but one thing he has shown is that when he wins he wins convincingly. This guy literally goes at his opponent at 110mph from beginning to end nonstop. He is a wrestler, but what he showed me this weekend against Hermes Franca is that he may be a wrestler but he is for sure a true warrior and master of his craft. I was absolutely disgusted by the boos and disgusted by all the people complaining about his performance.

Most wrestlers take their opponents down and hold them there.
Most wrestlers when put against a good bjj guy get submitted

Sean Sherk did neither. Yes...he constantly took Franka down but what he didn't do was hold him there and squeeze out a boring decision. Sherk was constantly active transitioning from position to position in a manner that made a bjj black belt look like a white belt. Every opportunity he got he went for the kill delivering punches and elbows to an opponent that showed nothing more than his defensive skills. If anyone is to blame for the lack of bloody action, it should be Franka who turtled up the entire fight and did an excellent job at avoiding severe punishment. From time to time Franka went for a sub, but sherk avoided all attempts. Sherk kept the pressure on him the entire fight and put on a clinic of how to wear down and beat a solid opponent. What we didn't see was sherk attempt a takedown like Ortiz and just hold his opponents legs against the cage for 3 1/2 minutes like Tito did to rashad. When sherk shot in, he shot in with force and almost put Franka through the floor on numerous occassions. But why the boos and lack of respect? Because Sherk didn't batter his opponent into submission with Elbows? Because he didn't keep it standing and box with franka? Sherk showed the definition of a true champion.

If all you think Sherk did was lay n pray on his opponent and held him down you are not a fan of the sport. For those saying Sherk is the next Tim Sylvia you are an ass plain and Simple. If sherk was like Tim, after getting hit with the first knee he wouldn't have shot in the rest of the fight, he would have jabbed and backed away the entire fight and if he did get him down he would have just held him there without trying to advance his position and work the way he did.

Hate the man...hate the style, but show some respect before you bash the man. Watch Matt Hughes vs Chris Lytle, Tito Ortiz vs numerous opponents, Ricardo Arona vs Silva 2 and then watch the franka vs sherk fight again and lets see if you can tell me the difference between a true lay n pray artist and a skilled ground fighter.

peace

I respect his skills and he seems like a great guy but I'm just not a fan of watching him fight

The problem I had with the fight was the fact that even though Sherk continued to improve position he did very little to try and finish the fight... he had the Kimura attempt and the North/South Choke but other than that he did very little. It seemed as if he was changing position to not get stood up.

Sherk is a very powerful guy with a great chin, good hands, and insane takedown and hold down ability. He shouldn't be afraid to posture up and punish his opponent during a fight, especially due to the fact that if he gets swept he can just cannon kick his opponent off of him and if his oppenent gets loose he is quick enough to get back to his feet and score another takedown.

Sherk is an evolved Lay and Pray artist, he actually does something when he's on top of fighters but it's just not that much and it's enough to allow him to stay on top of fighters without being stood up. I will give him the benefit of the doubt here because it was his first title defense and maybe he was a little worried to lose, but if his next fight is anything like this one I will not say that he exudes that championship quality because let's face it, Champions FINISH FIGHTS and guys like Sherk should have no problem finishing fights.

All that being said, I do blame Franca for the boring fight as well, but he was clearly out matched and there was nothing he could do, Sherk should've ended that fight as Franca had no answer to anything Sherk threw at him.

And to say that calling Sherk the next Tim Sylvia is just being an asshole... let's look at the facts, Tim is a STANDUP fighter, Sherk is a GROUND FIGHTER, both have been invovled in two incredibly boring title fights where they used their predominant fighting style to win all while boring the fans. Tim would never eat a knee like that because he doesn't shoot, although I hear where you are coming from, there is no way that Sherk could stand and Jab his way to victory against Hermes Franca, hence the reason he kept shooting even after the knee(s).

Advancing position is great in practice and it looks real impressive, but if you do nothing with it what good is having an opponent mounted...? except for scoring in the judges mind.

To finish off I'd just like to say that for you to say in your final paragraph that it's ok to hate the man as long as you respect him is ridiculous, why hate him? He's a great athlete and hearing him talk and seeing how he trains, he seems like a hard working, decent guy, so hating him is out of the question. I do however hate his style and watching him fight. I hope he comes out next fight and wows us... but he won't, cause BJ is gonna mess him up.

^Agree with many points. But you honestly think Sherk's title fights were as boring as Tim Sylvias? That I do not agree with by any means, but that is my opinion.

And the other comment...I absolutely hate Matt Hughes, his attitude and pretty much everything else about him...but he was a great champion and I do respect the man.

^Agree with many points. But you honestly think Sherk's title fights were as boring as Tim Sylvias? That I do not agree with by any means, but that is my opinion.

And the other comment...I absolutely hate Matt Hughes, his attitude and pretty much everything else about him...but he was a great champion and I do respect the man.

No, I definitely don't think they were as boring as Tim Sylvias but I think Sherk has much more talent and ability and should be able to put on a better show than the Sloth Man... I think Sherk will probably get better, it's possible that he gave Hermes too much respect and really was worried that he could be submitted at any time. But you could see Hermes break in the middle of round 3 (I think) and I wish Sherk really would've turned it on.

And I also agree with you on the Matt Hughes comment, I hate him too, but you can't deny what he has done. The difference with Hughes is he is a prick, the only reason I brought up the comment about saying it's ok to hate Sherk as long as you respect him is the fact that Sherk seems like a great guy and doesn't really have an attitude, he's just boring and that's why a lot of people are hating him as a person, which doesn't really make sense to me.

^I see what you are saying. Unfortunately people do hate him and get on his case because he isn't a finisher like some fighters. I also see what you are talking about him turning it up a notch in the later rounds, the 4th and 5th rounds especially he probably could have finished off Hermes, especially when he landed 2 big elbows that looked like it broke Hermes nose because he kept touching and grabbing it.

To me at least it was an incredible job on his part and hermes for being so defensive. To me his next fight will be the true test of his skill set. BJ Penn is my favorite fighter and will by far be the biggest test for Sherk.

i dont hate him but i dont like watchin him fight ,hope he works on submissions or somethin he defenitely has the muscle to do what he wants in there

I think it will be intersting to see someone in the 155 weight class beat him. Because he only lost to fighters that are bigger than him. And I think he is the biggest 155 in the world. Kawajri and melendez might be good fights for him and the upcoming BJ fight seems really intersting.

^Agree with many points. But you honestly think Sherk's title fights were as boring as Tim Sylvias? That I do not agree with by any means, but that is my opinion.

And the other comment...I absolutely hate Matt Hughes, his attitude and pretty much everything else about him...but he was a great champion and I do respect the man.

as danawhite said. what do you want trap doors to open and lions to come out.