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At UFC 84, the Ultimate Fighting Championship will present the most high profile lightweight fight in the company's history. B.J. Penn and Sean Sherk will fight to determine the best lightweight in UFC and to settle what has become a personal issue between the two.
In July 2007, Sherk successfully defended his UFC Lightweight Title with a decision victory over Hermes Franca. Following the fight, Sherk tested positive for Nandrolone, an anabolic steroid. Sherk protested the test result vehemently, but he was stripped of his title and suspended from fighting.
Penn at the time was in line for a lightweight title shot, and he strongly bashed Sherk for the positive test result.
"It's hard for me, a guy who has never used performance enhancing drugs," Penn says. "It gets to me when I find out someone else is using performance enhancing drugs. I see fighting as the most important thing in the world to me, and when someone else perverts it, I can't take it."
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| Penn doesn't buy Sherk's claim of innocence on the steroid issue. (UFC) |
"What happens in the wild west when you've got a couple aces up your sleeve?" Penn asks. "You get shot."
With Sherk stripped of the lightweight title, Penn defeated Joe Stevenson to capture that vacated crown. Now, Penn will have the opportunity to add injury to insult by defeating the returning Sherk.
Some have speculated that Penn is playing psychological games to take Sherk out of his game. If that's the case, it is a ploy that Sherk insists will not work.
"I take control of my emotions," Sherk asserts. "I don't let my emotions get the best of me I prepare for the fighter or athlete, not what the fighter or athlete says about me."
Sherk will need to be at his best and most focused to defeat Penn, widely considered one of the most talented pound-for-pound fighters in the world. Penn has made short work of many top-tier fighters, and he will look to finish Sherk as quickly as possible.
"I don't think B.J. presents any extra threat anyone else poses," Sherk says. "I've fought great boxers, I've fought great wrestlers, I've fought great jiu jitsu guys."
While that is true, Sherk has rarely fought anyone as good as Penn at some many different disciplines. Penn has a dangerous standup game that has finished top opponents in just seconds. He has tremendous balance that makes him hard to be taken down. On the ground, Penn has great flexibility and a world class jiu jitsu game. In the early stages of the fight, Penn will be especially dangerous.
Sherk's advantage lies if the fight goes longer. Sherk is a cardiovascular machine, able to go a hard 25 minutes. Penn's stamina by contrast has been a weakness for him. Jens Pulver and Matt Hughes defeated Penn by weathering an early storm and taking over later in the fight.
