Is Their A New Sheriff
In The 170lbs Town?
"The Juggernaut" Sean Sherk
by Chris Onzuka
There has been a relatively
new entrant into the 170lbs class, I say "relatively new"
because he has actually been fighting for three years now and
has been quietly destroying everyone in his path. This juggernaut's
name is Sean Sherk out of the Minnesota Martial Arts Academy,
the same academy that produced Dave Menne, Brad Kohler, and John
Renken. Sean has been making his opponents
well, Sherk!
Sorry, I couldn't resist that. Also by winning a couple of
tournaments courtesy of the Danger Zone and Extreme Challenge,
Sherk has not only racked up a lot of experience [18-0-1], but
has proven that he is very durable, something that you don't
often find in today's fighters. Many people saw Sherk for the
first time when he took apart Tito Ortiz's protégé,
Tiki in his UFC debut. Since then Sherk has kept fighting, but
for some strange reason has not been invited back into the UFC.
I got a hold of this well-spoken warrior and dug into his background
and uncovered his thoughts about his UFC and Pancrase debuts.
FCF: Let's start off with
your UFC debut. How did your UFC match come about? Did you
just receive a phone call or something?
Sean Sherk: Actually, my trainer, Greg Nelson received a call
from Monte Cox. Monte was the one who set that up. About two
months before the fight, they set that up and let me know.
FCF: Was Tiki named as
your opponent already?
SS: Yes, they matched me up against Tiki right away, so I knew
exactly who I was fighting two months ahead.
FCF: What did you think
going into the fight against the UFC Light Heavyweight Champ
Tito Ortiz's protégé, Tiki?
SS: I expected him to be tough. Fortunately, I was able to
get a hold of some tapes, so I had something to go off of. From
what I got off of the tapes, he was a good stand up guy, good
on his feet, he had explosive hands, good kicks and he also looked
like he had a good base. I seen a couple fights that when a
couple guys shot in on him, it looked like he had good balance.
So I knew that he was going to be well rounded. He definitely
looked well rounded. One of the fights that I saw was the one
where he fought Bob Cook. I basically knew that it was going
to be one of my best fights ever.
FCF: Did you feel that
your normal game plan would work so well against him or did you
train specific things for him?
SS: I trained some specific things just for him. I also tried
to sharpen what I had already been trying to work on, a lot of
ground and pound, and a lot of throws and a lot of take downs.
I really did not want to stand up with him because I knew that
he had good hands. I really worked a lot of striking with my
take downs. My plan was either to shoot under his punches or
shoot off of my punches, which is what I worked on for that fight.
I did a lot of cable shots. A lot of shots with the cable wrapped
around my waist, to just explode and keep driving and driving
and driving.
FCF: In that fight you
totally dominated him. Did you expect to take him apart like
that?
SS: I really did not know what to expect. I was sick for about
a month before that fight. I got some bronchitis and it really
messed up my lungs real bad. I was actually really nervous before
the fight because I was worried that my lungs would close up
and I would not be able to breath. Once I got in there, things
began to flow really well and I think that I performed well and
fought a really good fight.
FCF: Because of the bronchitis,
where you trying to end the fight early?
SS: I was planning on ending the fight as soon as I could.
I think the fight lasted about 9 ½ minutes. Another thing
that I worked a lot for that fight was throws. Fortunately for
me, he gave me his back in the fight and stood up, that's how
I ended the fight. I launched him and he had landed on his shoulder
and he dislocated it. I was looking for any opportunity to end
the fight and when I saw one, I ended it.
FCF: After such an impressive
victory in your UFC debut, why weren't you invited back to the
UFC?
SS: I am not real sure, hopefully it is not because they don't
like me. I thought that I fought a pretty good fight. Hopefully
that is not the reason. I kind of assumed that it was because
they introduced a new rule that they were only going to allow
one fighter per manager in the UFC and they pretty much introduced
that rule right after my fight. So I assumed that was the reason,
if there is any other reason, I just don't know. I haven't been
contacted by Zuffa or anyone since that fight.
FCF: Some fighters choke
when they get in the UFC, some rise to the next level. If you
do get invited back into the UFC, do you think that you will
perform even better or on par because of your outstanding previous
performance?
SS: It was surprising that I felt really good when I went out
there because I didn't know what to expect. The cameras and
the lights and all the people, I thought would throw me off,
but when I walked out there I just sunk my head down and looked
at the floor and pretended like there was nobody there. I think
that all my wrestling experience helped. I have wrestled in
front of 20,000 people before, so just being used to all those
people watching you allowed me to block it out of my head and
not let it bother me. So, hopefully, if I do get invited back
to the UFC, I think that I should be able to perform at a good
level, hopefully better than last time.
FCF: Do you have your sights
set on anyone in particular in the UFC?
SS: No it doesn't matter. I assume that they are going to put
me in against someone in the top 5 or top 10 in the world. Whoever
it is, all I can ask is for two months, so I can train and get
ready for it. Hopefully I am at a point where I can hang with
anyone in the top ten. With enough notice, I think that I can
prepare myself for just about anybody. Whoever my manager throws
me up against that's who I'm fighting.
FCF: What do you hope to
accomplish? Are you aiming for any titles?
SS: I definitely would love to fight for the UFC title. I'd
like to be a regular in the UFC. Actually any big event, UFC,
Pride, King of the Cage, anything like that I would like to win
their titles and be a regular in their events.
FCF: What steps are you
taking to get there?
SS: I need to win a couple big fights. Right now I am fighting
as much as I can. I try to fight every month, so that way my
name is always out there and people are hearing about me. Then
the promoters are hearing about me and they will want me to fight
for them because they know who I am. As far as the UFC goes,
hopefully I will be fighting back in the UFC in the next couple
of months. If I do get another UFC fight, it's my job to just
win and I assume that if I keep winning, I will just keep going
back.
FCF: Are you making some
consorted efforts to fight some name fighters? A lot of the
guys that you have fought are not that well-known. Are you trying
to get some fights with bigger names?
SS: I fight pretty much anyone who I am matched up against.
Right now, I am managed by Monte Cox. I take whatever advice
that he gives me, if he says that he wants me to fight so and
so, that's who I fight. Maybe a lot of the guys that I have
fought are not well-known, but they are pretty tough, even though
they are not well known like a Miletich or a Newton.
FCF: Do you have any comments
about people comparing you to Matt Hughes, some people are saying
that you may have more potential than him?
SS: I have only seen Matt fight a couple of times and from what
I have seen from Matt, he's phenomenal. He's fast, he's tough,
he's an awesome wrestler and from just talking to Monte twice
a week, Matt's stand up game is getting so good now and his ground
game as far as submissions are getting really good too. I guess
it is hard for me to look at myself and compare myself to somebody
else. I have never seen myself fight in person, you know what
I mean? It is hard for me to look at myself and say, "yeah,
I can hang with this guy." I have never felt my strength,
I have never felt my speed, I haven't felt that. I will probably
be going down to Pat's gym in the next month or two and work
out with those guys, so I will probably be able to work out with
Matt and see how I compare to him.
FCF: Do you think that
you training with Miletich's guys will compromise your opportunity
to fight for the UFC title if Pat wins it back?
SS: Well, I don't think that it will pull me away from a title
shot. I think that if I had moved down to Iowa and trained with
those guys on a regular basis it would probably hurt me. Dave
Menne trains down here in Minnesota and he has been down to Pat's
place a number of times and I know that him and Matt have fought
before and I am sure that they will fight again and he would
fight anyone of those guys down there. Whatever happens in the
ring, stays in the ring. It's nothing personal. I would definitely
like to go down there and train with those guys, but I don't
think that it will pull me away from a title shot.
FCF: Basically keep it
on a professional level?
SS: Yeah.
FCF: Let's switch gears
and talk about your recent fight in Pancrase. Was that the first
time you fought in Japan?
SS: Yes.
FCF: Tell us about that
fight. It was ruled and draw and it was your first draw? Tell
us what this opponent did that the others couldn't to bring you
to a draw.
SS: Well, my experience in Japan was all around was pretty good.
It was unique for me to go overseas and go to another country.
As far as my fight goes, it was definitely a good fight. Unfortunately,
I sprained my ankle in the first 15 seconds of the fight, so
I had to fight for 15 minutes with a sprained ankle, which I
think took a lot out of me. The guy that I fought was their
[Pancrase's] number one contender, [Kiuma] Kunioku. He was definitely
very well rounded and a tough guy. The way that I look at it
is, in my mind, I feel that I won that fight. I feel like I
dominated the first two rounds and the third round was close.
But I guess when you're fighting over in Japan and fighting
one of their guys, the second I walk into the ring, I am already
losing. That's the way I look at it. That was tough, but it
was a good experience. I'd like to fight for Pancrase again.
FCF: Have they expressed
any interest in bringing you back?
SS: Yeah, Monte [Cox] said that they had a lot of interest in
bringing me back and having me fight for them again. Nothing
set up or anything.
FCF: Now let's take a step
back, can you tell us about your training background. It's obviously
wrestling based.
SS: Yeah, you're right, it is wrestling based. I started wrestling
when I was seven [years old] and I pretty much did that my whole
life. At about 20 [years old], I took Judo and did that for
a short period of time and worked my way into shoot wrestling.
I started doing some Muay Thai in 1994. From there, I have
been at the same gym, which is Minnesota Martial Arts Academy.
Since I have been there, I've trained shoot wrestling, Jiu-Jitsu,
Muay Thai and combat submission wrestling.
FCF: Did you wrestle in
college?
SS: No, just up through high school. I wrestled since I was
seven. I wrestled for 13 years competitively and once I was
done with wrestling, I started doing submission wrestling and
Muay Thai and all that stuff. I have never been out of it.
I have always been involved in it.
FCF: Was all the shoot
wrestling at Minnesota Martial Arts Academy?
SS: Yeah, at the time, he [Greg Nelson, head instructor at MMAA]
did shoot wrestling and Muay Thai. The shoot wrestling class
was an hour and a half and right after the shoot wrestling class
was Muay Thai. They were back to back. Back then, I only trained
2 or 3 days a week. I was doing it more for fitness and because
I liked the wrestling, so at that point I really didn't have
any plans as far as competing or anything like that.
FCF: How long have you
trained there before getting into fighting?
SS: I had trained there for
my first fight was in '98,
so I was there for probably 4 years. I was off and on for about
3 and then I got serious about it for about a year and that's
when I started fighting.
FCF: When you say that
now you are really serious about fighting, how much are you training?
SS: Now I train 6 days a week, probably anywhere from 3-4 hours
a day.
FCF: Run us through a typical
training for you?
SS: It basically starts at about 11AM, where I come in and roll
with all the Jiu-Jitsu guys and wrestlers for about an hour.
After that I will usually work some hands, maybe some focus
mitts or some sparring or bag rounds. I will do that for anywhere
from a half an hour to an hour. Then I will eat and then I go
to Bally's and lift for about another hour. Then I will usually
get some cardio in which is usually some running, stair climbing
or swimming. I do all three of those at least twice a week.
Sometimes I end up doing two of those a day. And then a lot
of times I will come back at night and train again, so I get
about 3 or 4 hours a day of just pure training.
FCF: Do you always seem
to stick to that routine throughout the week?
SS: Yeah, my routine stays pretty constant. Even when I'm not
fighting, I am still training like that because I always like
to stay in good shape like that. I mean, there have been times,
when I get phone calls that I have been offered to fight someone
good for decent pay, with a week away. And I always like to
be ready because you never know when you are going to get a phone
call, so I am ready to go all the time.
FCF: Are you fighting full-time
right now, or are you still working or going to college..?
SS: Right now that is my full-time job. For the last 3 years
I was working as a machinist at a factory here in Minnesota.
I worked there from 3PM-11PM, so what I would do is train all
morning long up until about 2:30PM and then go to work until
11PM at night. I got laid off about two months, so now I'm just
fighting.
FCF: Are you teaching too
or is fighting enough to pay the bill?
SS: I just fight, that's all I do. I don't do any teaching
or anything like that. Sometime in the future I'd like to own
my own gym and have some fighters and train with them and teach
them.
FCF: What exactly got you
into fighting?
SS: Probably just watching the first few UFCs. That's what
introduced me to mixed martial arts because I had no idea what
that was until I started watching the Shamrocks and people like
that get in there and fight. I know that Shamrock had a wrestling
background, so I thought that maybe I can find a place that does
submission wrestling and kickboxing and possibly some day fight.
I really did not have any plans to fight as of when, I guess
I just assumed that when I was ready I would do it. Also a friend
of mine introduced me to the gym where I train at now and that's
where I have been ever since.
FCF: So you had a taste
for fighting even before you got to this gym?
SS: Yeah, just being a wrestler, I have a little aggression
in me, I guess. There has been a few cases where I have gone
out and gotten into a fight or two, not anymore. When I was
younger, I used to get into some stuff every now and then.
FCF: You currently have
a record of 18-0-1. It seemed like you came out of nowhere.
What organizations have you fought for? Where did you get all
of these wins?
SS: Well, my very first event was a tournament for the Danger
Zone. It's an event that Dan Severn puts on. My second tournament
was in the Extreme Challenge. I had fought for the Extreme Challenge
a few times. I had also fought in the RSF, Reality Submission
Fighting in St. Louis. That was my first 11 fights and my 12th
fight was in the UFC. Then from there I fought for the King
of the Cage, Pancrase, a few fights here in Minnesota that Brad
Kohler and Monte Cox put on. That's about it.
FCF: You wrestled, took
some shoot wrestling and Muay Thai. How would you describe you
fighting style?
SS: I describe my current style of fighting as Combat Submission
Wrestling, which is vale tudo style, submission wrestling and
Muay Thai. It's as well rounded as possible.
FCF: What do you feel are
your greatest attributes that have helped you achieve an immaculate
record?
SS: I would have to say that conditioning and strength are some
of my best attributes. Also speed and explosion, and having
good base, basically being a good wrestler.
FCF: Tell us about the
academy that you train at and your instructor?
SS: My academy is the Minnesota Martial Arts Academy, located
in Brooklyn Park, Minnesota. Since I have been there they have
done shoot wrestling, Muay Thai, Jiu-Jitsu, and combat submission
wrestling. My trainer is Greg Nelson, the owner of the academy.
He has been training martial arts for probably 20 years. He
is 35 [years old] now. He has wrestled for probably 10-15 years.
He has also fought some shoot wrestling and some Muay Thai fights,
so he is very well rounded. There are a lot of guys there that
cross train, we have pro boxers, kickboxers, and some college
wrestlers there. We have a pretty good mix of well rounded people
and some people are one dimensional, but you can always find
someone out there to work out with. It's a good school.
FCF: That academy has produced
some great fighters such as Dave Menne and Brad Kohler. Are
those guys still at your academy?
SS: Also John Renken. Dave [Menne] opened up his own school
in Forest Lake, Minnesota, so he's got his own thing going on,
but he probably trained 3-4 years here. John Renken moved to
Kentucky and, I believe is running his own school. And Brad
Kohler
he's retired. Those guys have kind of moved on,
but every once in a while they drop in.
FCF: So it is a good environment
for them to come back? No bad blood about them leaving?
SS: It is a great environment to come back to. All those guys
are welcomed to come back anytime they want. I am kind of hoping
that Dave Menne comes back for his UFC fight. It would be great
to train with him and I think we can definitely help him out
and help him get ready. As far as I know there is no animosity
as far as them leaving. There is no animosity with me anyway.
FCF: Are there anymore
stars training there that we should know about or have missed?
SS: I think Tom Schmitz, who is someone that I train with on
a regular basis with and I think he has a lot of potential.
I believe he has a 10-3 NHB record, his three losses coming from
Matt Hughes, Jesse Jones and Ben Earwood. He's got wins over
Dave Strasser and Shannon "The Canon" Rich. He is
definitely an up and comer. We have a few guys that are coming
up in the amateur ranks and a few that have a couple of pro fights.
If they stick with it, they have a lot of potential.
FCF: Do you have any fights
scheduled?
SS: Two coming up right now. One is on September 9th, here
in Minnesota, where I will be fighting Cedric Marks. The next
one is for the UCC title in Canada. I don't know who the opponent
is for that one. They do have an opponent, but I don't know
who that is.
FCF: Any closing comments?
SS: Well, I guess, I have a lot to show. For people that have
seen me fight, they think that I am just a wrestler that ground
and pounds guys, but I do work a lot of striking and submissions,
so I have a lot to show and eventually it will come out, so just
watch for me.
FCF: Thanks buddy.
SS: Cool, thanks. |