Comments on: Why B.J. Penn will dominate Sean Sherk

By: Sean Paul Entertainment

Sean Paul Entertainment — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 05:51:01 +0000

Sean Paul Entertainment…

I Googled for something completely different, but found your page?and have to say thanks. nice read?…

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By: true mma fan

true mma fan — Thu, 22 May 2008 07:32:57 +0000

ok dice i can see how you think you have some valed points but i am wondering if you were watching the same fights i was cause first of all sherks lay and pray tactics are not dominating 2nd for the franca fight in most maybe not all franca won 2 rounds and maybe more you can’t base your conclusion off of what the judges think cause i can point out a few fights where judges were completley wrong in all aspects of the fight. 3rd bj has a total different style that sherk has never and will never be able to prepare for. 4th joe stevenson al although you may not agree with but he has dominated in all of the fights that he has had and dominated in quick fashion and you are saying sherk beat gsp matt hughs thats a laugh cause from what i remember hughs who was never a pounder dominated sherk and also gsp mutilated sherk and stopped him in beautiful fashion enough for sherk to be scared and go down in weight . how can you say that sherk can even come close to the skill set of bj cause from a true mma fan stand point just the 2 fighters that i just mentioned sherk lost to and lost to badley and bj dominated both of them in the beginning of all 3 fights. bj beat matt hughs and sherk couldn’t even come close he brutilized gsp for the beginning and gassed but never gave up and sherk just got humiliated by gsp. tell me this who else in the fairy world you live in has ever been able to go up to 205 from 155 and take a take a great fighter on and not get their ass beat it would never be sherk cause he got his ass handed to him in his own weight division so lets try to beat up on people who are smaller then me oooh yeah and cheat w(steroids) i am not a bj penn fan and not a sherk hater but i am just a mma fan i have been watching this shit from the beginning and i’m not talking about the dana white era i saw #1 live and i bet you didn’t even know about this stuff till dana white and the tuf show came out i understand sorta where you are coming from on the stevenson thing but look at it this way dana white has 250 ppl under contract always and none of the guys in the ufc are slouches wec is a smaller franchise with fighter that all want to be in ufc but i bet you put uriah faber in the ring with sherk and faber would win

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By: dice

dice — Sat, 17 May 2008 04:34:24 +0000

Nice post Sam. Really cleared things up. Sherks experience is only marginally (at best) than stevenson, despite what each of their records tells us?

The knock on Stevenson when he was going to fight Penn was that he had yet to face a top tier opponent. Yet Sherk goes into this fight having fought some of the best in the world. I don’t understand how this isn’t trivial. If maybe you could elaborate on why Stevenson and Sherk have comparable experience please go ahead and do so. While Sherk was fighting the “most dominant welterweight of all time”, Joe Daddy was in GC and KOTC, fighting mid level opponents. Excluding Penn, has Joe daddy even fought anyone on the same level as franca or Florian (I have 6 guys on Sherks list of opponents who are about a level or 2 above anyone Joe daddy fought before Penn)?

Derek B. , your reply barely merits a response. Just because a guy wins by decisions doesn’t mean that he is not dominating. Does anyone say that Fedor didn’t dominate Nog twice because he won by decision both times?

The facts directly dispute your claim that sherk has not been dominating lately.

His last 3 fights have been against guys who are in or around the Top 10 (diaz, franca, florian). How many unanimous rounds have these guys won against Sherk? Zero. Yes you read that right, the guy who “didn’t even come close to dominating” hasn’t lost a unanimous round in his last 3 fights. He swept Diaz on all 3 score cards, lost 1 round on 2 scorecards to Florian and lost 1 round on 1 scorecard to Franca.

I knew as soon as I read this statement “I don’t think he’s able to give that crowd pleasing finish like he use to.” that you were not being serious. When has sherk ever been known to give “crowd pleasing finishes”? He is known as a ground and pound guy who doesn’t knock people out standing up.

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By: Derek B.

Derek B. — Thu, 15 May 2008 16:44:03 +0000

“I personally don’t care how many fights you have under your belt, I look at how many quality opponents you have faced.”

Yea, but I don’t think that Sherk can dominate Stevenson in a fight. I haven’t seen a really dominating performance from Sherk since 2005 when he fought Joel Blanton who’s record is a embarrassing 8-8.

Sherks last 3 wins in the UFC were all decision. I don’t think he’s able to give that crowd pleasing finish like he use to. He’s fighting top competition and I think its exposing alot of his weaker sides in him.

Just look at when he fought Franca…he didn’t even come close to dominating the fight if you ask me…and Franca didn’t even train to 100% for his fight and was suffering from an injury during the fight.

If Sherk loses to Penn you can bet that Silva will be interested in setting up a fight between him and Stevenson.

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By: Sam Caplan

Sam Caplan — Thu, 15 May 2008 16:05:29 +0000

Any experience advantage that Sherk might have over Stevenson is marginal, at best.

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By: dice

dice — Thu, 15 May 2008 16:04:00 +0000

# 18 Sam Caplan Says:
May 12th, 2008 at 12:09 pm
“Sherk more experienced than Stevenson? I know Joe is young, but he’s been fighting for a long time now and has a lot of fights under his belt.”

I personally don’t care how many fights you have under your belt, I look at how many quality opponents you have faced. While you are correct that Joe Daddy is not a newcomer; his experience in big fights against high level competition is not even comparable to Sherks. Sherk has fought (and beaten) some of the best: Diaz, GSP, Hughes, Karo. Stevensons record (excluding Penn of course) is filled with zero elite fighters.

I can’t think of a more under rated fighter than Sherk. I know he is not the most exciting guy out there, but he is tough as nails. His victory over Florian is looking more and more impressive, since Ken Flo is now cleaning out the division. He stopped (not litterally) a red hot Franca (yes while on roids) who had finished his last 8 opponents (some of names on that list you might recognize: Ryan Schultz, Nate Diaz, Spencer Fisher).

I know Penn is infinitely more popular than sherk (and a lot more fun to watch). But Sherk is pissed. And I think those who think that Penn is going to run through him have another thing coming. Penn is probably more talented than sherk, and will win a round of two. But Sherk will be pushing him the whole fight and will eventually break him.

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By: kroyer

kroyer — Tue, 13 May 2008 20:22:55 +0000

i’m a huge penn fan and i guess you can say i’m a sherk fan, i don’t have any dislike for him. i feel penn wins within 2 similiar to the stevenson fight. penn’s talent is head and shoulders over the rest and i believe he is finally training like he want to be a champion. if he is training the way i believe he is i don’t see anyone beating him at 155 – period! the fans are truly going to be the winner here as well, this fight will probably a strong candidate for fight of the year.

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By: Mikee

Mikee — Tue, 13 May 2008 14:26:12 +0000

Jye, never say never. “never proven once to have good cardio?” Are you kidding? I guess before you wrote that you neglected to remember that he went an entire 5 rounds with Pulver before and with Caol Uno! Both fights went the entire 5 rounds. In more recent bouts of his the majority of them went the entire 3 rounds against fighters such as Lyoto Machida, Renzo and Rodrigo Gracie. All three of those fights went the entire time and if you watch them he doesn’t look in bad shape at the end either. Those bouts were K-1 and Rumble on the Rock. He admitted himself that before returning to the UFC he had gotten lazy and didn’t train like he should’ve and that is why we saw conditioning problems and him strugggle because of those. With a fresh rededicated Penn we should expect nothing less than total preperation and him showing up able to finish this fight in whatever round it ends up going to.

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By: jason hughes

jason hughes — Tue, 13 May 2008 03:11:52 +0000

in four words yes…

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By: MAJ3STIC

MAJ3STIC — Tue, 13 May 2008 01:57:24 +0000

Mahalo for the Awesome article! I believe Penn will win this fight with ease. Everyone talks about Penn gassing out on the 2nd Matt Hughes fight, but tend to forget that Penn injured his ribs in the 2nd round, and Rogan & Goldberg commented about BJ being in the best shape they’ve seen before the fight. He basically dominated Matt throughout the first round and after the injury in the 2nd started to fade. He lost fair and square but not because if him gassing! Now you take BJ at the top of his game, Steriods Shrek will definitely lose. It’ll be like when BJ Penn was a white belt beating black belts in a Jiu-Jitsu tournament years back (The video is on google). Anyhow great article and BJ Penn dominates! Hawaii Pride! Aloha!!

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By: Jye

Jye — Mon, 12 May 2008 23:44:09 +0000

I also don’t think that Penn will win if the fight goes outside the third round, no offence but he never has proven once that he has good cardio. And there is a difference between saying that you have good cardio and dealing with Sean Sherk’s pace for 4+ rounds.

I think the biggest problem for Sherk is going to be if he can’t get the takedowns consistently, Matt Hughes had a lot of troubles getting Penn down in their second fight and I consider Hughes the better and stronger wrestler. For Sherk to gas Penn out he needs to constantly force transitions as they take up the most energy.

I still think that Penn will win but I’ll be going for Sherk. I don’t know why there’s so much hate for him and so much love for Penn when BJ comes across so arrogantly and Sherk seems like the much more honest, hard working, family man ( i know that’s ironic considering he got done for roids, but I’m one of those people that believes his side of the story)

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By: Owen

Owen — Mon, 12 May 2008 22:36:08 +0000

Penn by TKO in the FOURTH?! i dont see anyway penn can win outside of the third round. yes he looks to be in shape at 155 but some ppl just naturally have better cardio then others. i believe that Penn can only last for 3 rounds tops. That being said, Penn by RNC in 2nd

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By: pr0cs

pr0cs — Mon, 12 May 2008 20:35:46 +0000

I don’t really care who wins, I just want to see a good fight but I think a LOT of people are writing off Sherk and I think they may regret that decision (if they go into the fight unbiased to begin with).
This will likely be the best Sherk people have ever seen (he was already a cardio monster to begin with). and he has a lot to prove so I expect him to just survive the storm the first rounds and drag Penn into deep water where he has always strugged in the past and where Sherk lives and excells.
I’m not a fan of Sherk’s style but I have no doubt he’s going to do everything to frustrate Penn (and his fans) by grinding him out for the first 3 rounds and then putting on pressure to steal the fight from Penn in the 4th or 5th.

Either way I’m excited for the fight, the 24th seems like a long ways away.

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By: Cobra Kai

Cobra Kai — Mon, 12 May 2008 18:53:39 +0000

I don’t see why training without a gi makes you not like being on your back. I have only trained without a gi and I prefer to be on my back.

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By: bjjdenver

bjjdenver — Mon, 12 May 2008 18:45:38 +0000

Don’t put to much stock in Sherk’s appearance. BJ is well known to have amazing strength and power, despite not having a bodybuilder physique.

I don’t see Sherk overpowering BJ, I don’t see him outstriking him and I surely do not see him subbing him.

Anything can happen in a fight, but i give the edge to BJ in all areas except conditioning, and I think even that will be satisfactory.

I am anticipating this fight more than any in recent memory! Can’t wait!

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By: Trevor

Trevor — Mon, 12 May 2008 18:33:06 +0000

I think it’s actually worse for Sherk than you make it out to be. He’s not a “great” wrestler, he’s a decent wrestler.

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By: alex

alex — Mon, 12 May 2008 18:07:48 +0000

good article, but keep in mind the fact that Sherk did test positive for steriods. Getting off of the roids and then cutting weight has a HUGE effect on conditioning. Theres a huge chance that not only will Sherk get dominated, but will gas out.

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By: Smokes

Smokes — Mon, 12 May 2008 18:01:15 +0000

Good article, a good deal of points that do prove Penn is the choice to win this. I do believe Sherk can do a body lock to take down Penn and it will reduce his ablility to sprawl and stop Sherk. Also I don’t see Penn having to many options for submission. Of course he could get into the hold but a RnC is a tough pull for someone who has a neck like Sherk. Not to mention I think alot of his sheer strength will prevent Penn for taking control of the fight. With Penn standing I think if he gets excited when he rocks Sherk could be a bad move. Sherk can get rocked but he also comes out of it quick and usually reacts by taking you down when your going all out offense. Bottom line? Sherk is still an underdog, but I don’t think is victory is unreasonable.

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By: Sam Caplan

Sam Caplan — Mon, 12 May 2008 17:09:40 +0000

Sherk more experienced than Stevenson? I know Joe is young, but he’s been fighting for a long time now and has a lot of fights under his belt.

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By: Rich S.

Rich S. — Mon, 12 May 2008 16:53:52 +0000

lay off the kool-aid guys…
BJ Penn’s good..
But Sean Sherk’s BIG..
i know the point of JJ is to eliminate the struggles that the opponent’s size gives you.. but.. Sherk seems to override that every time..

Yes… Penn did look way better conditioned in his fight with stevenson.. but Sherk’s more experienced than Stevenson.. and that only went to the second round.. We’ll see how good BJ’s conditioning is after he’s laid on by a 180lb 155′er for a few rounds..

these guys have alot in common:
Sherk’s only 2 losses are to 2 of the best WW’s in UFC history..
Penn’s losses are from the same 2 WW’s as Sherk, 1 of the best LW’s in UFC history, and one of the best LHW’s right now..

these guys only lose to the best..
and right now, each of them are the best.. soo.. this one will be good.. but.. i think people are giving Penn way too much credit [i'm gonna take some major abuse for that line]

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