Although it’s been filled with its ups and downs, former UFC Lightweight Champion Sean Sherk has led a mostly-distinguished career. “The Muscle Shark” enjoyed runs at both Welterweight and Lightweight inside the UFC, but has never truly gotten back to the level he was on when he beat Kenny Florian all the way back in 2006 to win the vacant UFC Lightweight Championship. As he nears what could be his last few years in the sport of MMA, Sherk recently outlined his goals for the future, including his desire to earn a spot in the UFC Hall of Fame. Here are all the details. ...

It’s been a long, hard road back to divisional relevancy for former ufc Lightweight Champion Sean Sherk. Sherk recently got back from a year-long layoff and faced Evan Dunham at UFC 119, winning by a controversial Split Decision that many felt Dunham won and, for that matter, won convincingly. Now with over forty professional MMA fights, Sean Sherk recently addressed his injury woes and his potential future in an interesting new interview. Here are all the details. ...

An exciting lightweight match up has been added to the seemingly stacked UFC 127 card, which will be taking place in February of next year, in Las Vegas, Nev. The headliner, a rumored bout pitting UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva against former teammate Vitor Belfort is tentatively scheduled for the event, as well as light heavyweight bouts pitting former champions Forrest Griffin and Rich Franklin against one another, as well as Ryan Bader versus phenom, Jon "Bones" Jones. Said lightweight match up, which will be Kenny Florian against Evan Dunham, is a fight that no true mixed martial arts fan would want to pass up. ...

If having your 'friend' ask you to "pray to whatever Demon effigy you prance and dance in front of with your piglet tribe of savages that I decide not to CRUCIFY you" is what Ed Soares' idea of what a friend should be, than George Bush and Osama bin Laden are sharing a condo on the coast, drinking margaritas and laughing about 'stupid American bureaucracy', and plan to adopt an underprivileged child from North Korea. The Ed-Chael feud had been well documented in the lead up heading into ufc 117 where Chael faced Soares' client Anderson Silva just last August. After many outlandish claims directed towards Soares himself and Anderson Silva primarily, it was later discovered that after failing to capture the UFC middleweight title from "The Spider" after a dominant four-rounds turned in (before the Brazilian submitted Sonnen with a late-rally fifth-round arm bar), Sonnen was found to have been possibly under the influence of performance enhancing drugs. Despite the fall out, and all of the negative tension shared in the media, Ed sympathizes with Sonnen and even goes as far as to say that his 'friend' is innocent of said allegations. ...

ufc 119: “Mir vs. Cro Cop” was a very physical night of fights for many of the performers competing on the night’s card, and as such, several injuries were sustained in the course of the event. The Indiana Gaming Commission has recently released their list of fighter suspensions following the event, and topping the charts are both Matt Serra and Mirko Filipovic, each of whom received indefinite suspensions. Even Mark Hunt was suspended indefinitely. Here’s how it all broke down. ...

Sean Sherk’s return at the recent UFC 119: “Mir vs. Cro Cop” event turned out to be bittersweet to say the very least. Once a UFC Lightweight Champion, a string of unfortunate injuries continuously halted Sherk's return and kept him out of the Octagon for over a year. In his big fight back he faced Lightweight prospect Evan Dunham in what I personally consider to be one of the best fights of the night. However, Sherk’s return has quickly become mired in controversy; many believe that Dunham should have been the one to get the Split Decision victory. At the UFC 119 press conference, Sherk was very vocal on the subject. Courtesy of MMAMania, here’s what “The Muscle Shark” had to say. ...

Just how big is the UFC? Apparently it’s big enough that their recent UFC 119 event was one of the biggest in recorded Indiana history. According to MMAWeekly, 15,811 fans packed into the Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Indiana for a total gate of $1,613,337. Fans were treated to a slightly-underwhelming show that I honestly believe isn’t getting half the credit it deserves in the early days of reflection and post-fight analysis. The UFC opened up its pocketbooks after the event and issued $70,000 bonuses in the form of their often-used but sometimes-confusing “Of the Night” awards. Here’s who got what and why. ...

UFC 119 was an interesting event to say the very least. We saw Ryan Bader beat Antonio Rogerio Nogueira and cement his status as a top-division athlete. Chris Lytle put himself “into the mix” for the first time in years (some cynics would say “ever”) with his dominant performance over former UFC Welterweight Champion Matt Serra. Sean Sherk returned and will likely become a lightning-rod of heated debate due to his controversial win over Evan Dunham. All this happened, and then Frank Mir knocked out Mirko Filipovic. So what’s next for the big winners and losers of UFC 119? Here are my thoughts. ...

Another UFC event has come and gone, and what a shocking (but perhaps also underwhelming?) night of fights it was. The Spike TV “Prelims Live” special delivered two great fights for free, setting up what would be a Pay-Per-View card with its fair share of highlights as well as not-so-good moments. In the main event, former UFC Heavyweight and Interim Heavyweight Champion Frank Mir put a dramatic end to what had been a largely underwhelming performance when he surprise-KO’d feared Croatian striker and semi-revered PRIDE legend Mirko Filipovic. Here are the full results to UFC 119: “Mir vs. Cro Cop” as well as my thoughts on the card. ...

The time for talk is finally over: UFC 119 is upon us. The event is scheduled to take place today at the Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Indiana. The stacked card features Mirko Filipovic vs. Frank Mir, Ryan Bader vs. Antonio Rogerio Nogueira, Chris Lytle vs. Matt Serra, Evan Dunham vs. Sean Sherk, and more. Weigh-ins were held yesterday and not a single fighter came in over the limit. All the fights are official, so here are the weigh-in results for UFC 119 “Mir vs. Cro Cop”. ...

ufc 119 is only a day away, and the final promotional pushes are being done to get fans excited and interested in a card that sees Frank Mir take on Mirko Filipovic in the main event. We at Fighters.com have covered UFC 119 extensively, and I myself have recently posted my predictions for the event. Those predictions were primarily based on what questions I think will be answered come UFC 119, and the more I think about, the more I think that UFC 119 will answer some very important questions for some very important fighters. So here’s my list of the top 5 questions that UFC 119 will answer. ...

The upcoming ufc 119 event is rapidly approaching, and it looks to be a solid event from top to bottom. The main event fight between Mirko Filipovic and Frank Mir had recently come into question after it was revealed that “Cro Cop” had hurt himself in training. Apparently much ado was made about nothing, as the UFC recently put up a press release confirming that the PRIDE FC legend had been medically cleared to compete. Here’s what the official release said, as well as my predictions for the card. ...

It’s been over a year since Sean Sherk last competed in a ufc Octagon. The former one-time UFC Lightweight Champion was last seen losing a Unanimous Decision to the man who is now the undisputed best Lightweight in the world, current UFC Lightweight champion Frank Edgar. It was Sherk’s fourth loss in a career that has spanned ten years and nearly forty professional fights. A string of injuries has kept Sherk away from competition since that loss in May 2009, but his return once again nears. If all goes according to plan, Sherk will face Evan Dunham at the upcoming UFC 119: “Mir vs. Cro Cop” event. “The Muscle Shark” recently did an interview with UFC.com, and here’s what he had to say regarding his opponent. ...

Lately it seems that ufc Lightweight Gray Maynard has had a noticeable (and some would say rightly justified) chip on his shoulder. Maynard was passed over in favor of the man he beat, Frank Edgar, for a shot at then-champion BJ Penn. Of course, Edgar would go on to make the most out of that opportunity and beat Penn not once but twice, first at UFC 112 via a close, hotly contested Unanimous Decision win, and then again at the recent UFC 118 event via a dominating Unanimous Decision win. Maynard has also been the subject of recent criticism for not finishing any of his fights, with his last stoppage occurring almost three full years ago. But in his latest interview, Gray Maynard has fired back and poised an interesting question: who really finishes fights at Lightweight anyway? ...

Many people believe that Chael Sonnen deserves an immediate rematch with UFC Middleweight Champion Anderson Silva following Sonnen’s near-total destruction of “The Spider”, a dramatic underdog victory that was cut short in the dying minutes of the fifth and final round, as Silva locked in a tight triangle choke and forced Sonnen to tap. However, it seems more and more likely that Vitor Belfort will fulfill the role of “next challenger to the throne”, which is what he was supposed to be ever since he nearly decapitated Rich Franklin back at UFC 103. Now back from his injury-induced hiatus, “The Phenom” recently said that UFC co-owner Lorenzo Fertitta promised him that he would be next in line, although a date has not yet been set. Nothing’s impossible in MMA, and Sonnen getting an immediate rematch registers relatively low on the “big surprises in MMA in 2010” scale. But if Sonnen does have to work his way to the top once again, here are some opponents I’d love to see him match fists (and wits) with. ...

As a massive fan of BJ Penn, I was one of the most vocal proponents of an immediate rematch following his loss to Frank Edgar at UFC 112. We will indeed be getting a rematch at UFC 118, and while I personally think that “Baby Jay” will come back better and hungrier than ever, let’s face facts here: 2010 has been the year of the massive upset, and there’s a very real possibility that Edgar will beat Penn once again. If it does happen, I think the MMA population in general will finally have to accept Edgar as the #1 Lightweight in the world. And if he does beat Penn, he’ll have practically blown the UFC’s Lightweight division wide open and opened himself up to a host of worthy contenders. Looking ahead, here are three fighters I’d love to see challenge for Frankie Edgar’s title, should he manage to get by Penn. ...

Fighters.com's fifth-ranked lightweight "Bully" Gray Maynard (8-0) and Nate Diaz (10-5) will rematch an The Ultimate Fighter 5 exhbition match tonight at UFC Fight Night 20 in Fairfax, Virginia. ...

The breakdown in negotiations between boxing champions Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather, Jr. over Pacquiao's apparent resistance to submit to an Olympic-style blood test has presented MMA with a golden opportunity to further differentiate itself from the often frustrating sport of boxing. ...

Fighters.com’s ninth-ranked lightweight “Muscle Shark” Sean Sherk (33-4-1) has withdrawn from a matchup versus “Mongoose” Jim Miller (15-2) at UFC 108 in Las Vegas January 2, according to MMA Weekly. ...

Fighters.com's ninth-ranked lightweight “Muscle Shark” Sean Sherk (33-4-1) will replace Tyson Griffin (14-2) versus “Mongoose” Jim Miller (15-2) at UFC 108 in Las Vegas January 2, according to MMA Weekly. ...

UFC lightweight title contender “Nightmare” Diego Sanchez (21-2) debuted at tenth in Fighters.com's Lightweight Rankings in November due mostly to former top tenner Katsunori Kikuno's (5-1-1) stoppage loss to third-ranked Eddie Alvarez (16-2) at DREAM.12 in Osaka October 25. ...

Fighters.com and UFC Lightweight Champion "Prodigy" BJ Penn (14-5-1) will defend his titles from unranked, but popular The Ultimate Fighter 1 champion “Nightmare” Diego Sanchez (21-2) at UFC 107 at the FedExForum in Memphis December 12, the UFC officially announced Tuesday. ...

Lightweight "Dentist" Josh Neer (25-8-1) will replace "Muscle Shark" Sean Sherk (33-4-1) versus Gleison Tibau (16-5) at UFC 104 in Los Angeles 24 October, the UFC has announced. Since returning to the UFC in April 2008, Neer has notched a 2-2 record, but in several of the gnarliest fights of the last two years. He lost a three-round UD to "Batman" Kurt Pellegrino (15-4) at UFC 101 in Philadelphia 8 August. Tibau lost a split decision to "Young Assassin" Melvin Guillard (22-7-2) The Ultimate Fighter 9 Finale in Las Vegas 20 June. ...

Fighters.com’s fifth-ranked lightweight “Muscle Shark” Sean Sherk (33-3-1), Tyson Griffin (12-2), “Cigano” Junior dos Santos (7-1), and “King” Spencer Fisher (22-4) each took home  $65,000 bonuses after UFC 90 Saturday night in Rosemont, near Chicago, UFC officials announced after the event. Sherk and Griffin won Fight of the Night honours for their three round battle that ended in a unanimous decision victory for former champion Sherk. UFC newcomer Dos Santos’s first-round TKO upset over fourth-ranked heavyweight “Vai Cavalo” Fabricio Werdum (11-4-1) was the Knockout of the Night. Fisher’s third-round triangle choke of Shannon Gugerty (11-3) earned him the Submission of the Night prize. The event drew a sellout crowd of 15,359 which set a record $2.8 million gate for the Allstate Arena. ...

Fighters.com's Middleweight Champion "Spider" Anderson Silva (23-4) won by TKO at UFC 90 in Chicago Saturday night when "Predator" Patrick Cote's (13-5) knee popped at 39 seconds of round three. Top welterweight contender "Pitbull" Thiago Alves (16-3) easily beat fourth-ranked Josh Koscheck (11-3) by unanimous decision. Scores were 30-27 twice and 29-28 once. Fourth-ranked heavyweight "Vai Cavalo" Fabricio Werdum (11-4-1) was devastated by fellow Brazilian, but virtual unknown "Cigano" Junior dos Santos (7-1) via first-round TKO at 1:21. Fifth-ranked lightweight "Muscle Shark" Sean Sherk (33-3-1) won a unanimous decision over Tyson Griffin (12-2) by judges' scores of 29-28 twice and 30-27 once. Thales Leites (14-1), "Bully" Gray Maynard (6-0), "King" Spencer Fisher (22-4), Dan Miller (10-1), "Drago" Pete Sell (8-4), and Hermes Franca (19-7) were all winners inside the Octagon. ...

Fighters.com's Lightweight Champion "Prodigy" B.J. Penn's (13-4-1) three-fight run at lightweight will end in Las Vegas 31 January when Penn returns to welterweight to fight Fighters.com’s Welterweight Champion “Rush” Georges St. Pierre (17-2) for the UFC welterweight title. Why? (Well, besides the obvious jack the UFC stands to profit on the main event.) But, UFC President Dana White himself has claimed Penn's best weight class is 155 pounds; and, Penn made much ballyhoo about getting serious and slimming down to 155 pounds, his natural fighting weight. Penn has never fought above 155 with a physique that could be described as anything but "pudgy". Penn is also 0-2 in his last two 170-pound fights in the Octagon, which must make UFC welterweight contenders wonder if they can get some Vaseline. In Saitama, north of Tokyo, 24 August, top lightweight contender "Fireball Kid" Takanori Gomi (29-3) won a unanimous decision versus tough, but relatively unknown Korean champ Seung Hwan Bang (5-2). ...

It was really sad to hear about the passing of Evan Tanner. Evan was a true pioneer of MMA and someone whom I really looked up to and I enjoyed watching him fight. Evan made an impression on many fighters and fans so he may be gone but he will not be forgotten. RIP Evan - Fighters.com's fifth-ranked lightweight “Muscle Shark” Sean Sherk (32-3-1) ...

Fighters.com's fifth-ranked lightweight "Muscle Shark" Sean Sherk (32-3-1) will return in Chicago 25 October to fight Tyson Griffin (12-1). Sherk was TKO'd by Fighters.com's Lightweight Champion "Prodigy" B.J. Penn (13-4-1) at the end of three rounds in Las Vegas 24 May in Sherk's challenge for the title he was stripped of after testing positive for banned substances. Sherk denies using banned substances. Griffin has peeled off four consecutive decision victories, most recently versus "Maximus" Marcus Aurelio (16-6) in Las Vegas 5 July in which Griffin demoed his consistently improving striking. Griffin told Sherdog, "I’d like to stand out of his range and pick him apart like B.J. [Penn]" ...

August brought the crowning of Fighters.com's new Lightweight Champion "Prodigy" B.J. Penn (13-4-1) and the top ten debuts of fourth-ranked "Hellboy" Joachim Hansen (19-7-1), sixth-ranked Eiji Mitsuoka (13-5-2), and eighth-ranked Kotetsu Boku (13-5-1). "Hellboy" shocked Osaka 21 July by TKOing former Fighters.com Lightweight Champion "Tobikan Judan" Shinya Aoki (17-3) in the first round of the DREAM Lightweight Grand Prix final. Aoki spirals down eight wrungs to ninth on the loss, taking vanquished rival tenth-ranked "JZ" Gesias Calvancante (14-2-1) with him. Penn takes the Championship from the second rank, but is torn between moving to welterweight to fight Fighters.com Welterweight Champion "Rush" Georges St. Pierre (17-2) or defending his Fighters.com and UFC titles from seventh-ranked, top UFC contender "KenFlo" Kenny Florian (10-3). In Minneapolis 9 August, Florian cleared-up the UFC's lightweight picture with a dominant UD over "El Matador" Roger Huerta (20-2-1). ...

So thorough was second-ranked UFC Lightweight Champion "Prodigy" B.J. Penn's (13-4-1) domination of fifth-ranked "Muscle Shark" Sean Sherk (31-3-1) 24 May in Las Vegas that Penn leaps two spots in Fighters.com's June Lightweight Rankings to place as the top contender to Fighters.com's Lightweight Champion "Tobikan Judan" Shinya Aoki (15-2). Fighters.com never questioned Penn's talent, just his recent body of work at 155-pounds. Though Penn fought unquestionably tougher competition last month, "Tobikan Judan" stole the show in the division by pulling a gogoplata from the mount out of his hat to tap Katsuhiko Nagata (4-3) 15 June in Tokyo. It seems impossible for DREAM's magician from Tokyo and the UFC's warrior from Hilo to settle the cross-Pacific lightweight question; but, UFC President Dana White is desperate to keep Penn's eyes from wandering out of the young UFC 155-pound division. Penn told the post-UFC 84 press conference that, after out-boxing Sherk, it's hard for him to get motivated to fight the winner of seventh-ranked "KenFlo" Kenny Florian (9-3) versus "El Matador" Roger Huerta (20-1-1) to be fought in Minneapolis 9 August. ...