The Case For Cutting Sean Sherk Just A Little Slack
(Dirty cheater or wrongly accused?)
Sean Sherk doesn’t get much love in the MMA blogosphere. Some of that is because he tested positive for steroids. Some of it is because his fighting style is not always the most exciting to watch. Some of it is because he clearly wears hair gel into the Octagon.
These are all fair points, to varying degrees.
But as fun as it may be to bash Sean Sherk, and as much as he may or may not have it coming, it’s important to put it in perspective. It may just be possible that Sherk deserves a break. Maybe. It’s at least worth considering, one point at a time.
First, there’s the anabolic elephant in the room: his positive steroid test. Sherk swears he’s innocent on this charge. He’s taken polygraphs. He’s filed for appeals. He’s spent money, time, and effort trying to clear his name. But it’s not going to work. Even if he is innocent, even if the positive test was a result of a screw-up at the lab, it doesn’t matter.
That’s because we’re all skeptics when it comes to pro athletes and steroid use. The mere accusation is almost enough to ruin a man’s reputation. A positive test is practically as damning as a picture of him with a needle in his arm. Pro sports and steroids go together like politicians and hookers. By the time there’s an accusation, it already feels like a fact. It fits with a narrative we’ve come to expect.
Let’s imagine, for the sake of argument, that you’re Sean Sherk and you know for certain that you’ve never used an illegal substance in your life. Let’s say that the lab somehow tainted your sample, and it came up positive. Imagining that to be true, what could you possibly do to clear your name now? You know you’re innocent, but here you are walking around with a chiseled physique, a positive steroid test, with a nickname like “The Muscle Shark” and trying to tell people that it’s not what it looks like.
If he hadn’t already done it, I’d suggest taking a polygraph. Other than that, it’s really difficult to prove you didn’t do steroids. It’s even more difficult when your opponent also tests positive and admits it right afterwards. That makes it seem to an outside observer like steroids are rampant in the UFC and you’re just one more example.
My point is, there is reasonable doubt here. Maybe he did it. Maybe he didn’t. I don’t know a lot about steroid testing, though more than one pro fighter has told me that a true positive test would likely contain much greater concentrations of Nandrolone. We did not discuss how they knew these things.
As for the flack that Sherk gets because of his fighting style, which I’ll admit is less than exhilarating, that’s a fair criticism, but only to some extent. If a fighter is boring because he’s inactive, then he’s not much of a fighter. But Sherk is nothing if not active. He takes people down, he grinds away at them, he keeps them from executing their game plan. It might not be pretty, and you don’t have to like it, but when he does it with such effectiveness you should at least respect it.
As for the hair gel, well, there’s no excuse for that. It’s still better than shaving some vague, ill-advised design into your head, though.
Everyone’s entitled to their opinion about Sherk, but we should be honest with ourselves about why we hold those opinions. And when it comes to questions about steroids, which is essentially a question about cheating, which is in turn a question about a man’s character, we should be careful about rushing to judgment. Everybody deserves some slack now and then.
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May 5th, 2008 at 4:32 pm
The low amount of Nandrolone was enough shadow of a doubt for me, and while his fights may not be Liddell vs Couture, I still enjoy watching. He is my favorite lightweight, and I hope he beats the odds and stomps BJ come 84.
May 5th, 2008 at 4:35 pm
Fuck Sean Sherk Big Pappy Potato, you know better.
May 5th, 2008 at 4:45 pm
You forgot that he trains with Brock “Cock Chest” Lesnar, who has been less than apologetic about his chronic steroid use.
May 5th, 2008 at 4:54 pm
Sherk is a lil muscle cheating twat waffle and BJ is gonna school his ass come fight night. class is in session ladies
May 5th, 2008 at 4:58 pm
Sherk is a bitter, cheating, little man that happens to be a bitter litte faggot as well.
May 5th, 2008 at 5:01 pm
Haha Sherkfan must have been there making sure Sherk got off his cycle but still failed his test bummer for your boy Shrunk.
May 5th, 2008 at 5:05 pm
Correct me if I’m wrong, but don’t they test fighters before AND after a fight? Aren’t we really talking about two failed tests? I don’t think I’ve ever heard that reported, but I’m pretty sure before and after tests are standard…
And since he’s always been muscley and never tested positive before, couldn’t the low number be a result of cycling off the roids a little too late? Almost out of his system but not quite? If we were talking about a tainted test, wouldn’t it be more likely to test higher than lower? (imagine how little nandralone you have to drop into a piss cup to get 6ng/mL.)
What’s frustrating about his technique is that he actually has technique - he doesn’t use it. Look at the ways he wins fights against nobodies- knockouts and submissions aplenty. But when he fights somebody with real skill? Bump and hump. That’s annoying.
But you’re right about the gel. Fuck the gel.
May 5th, 2008 at 5:06 pm
If Sherk tested positive in Vegas then I’d call him a juicer, but after all the CSAC bullshit with Cesar Gracie, Phil Baroni, Bas Rutten, Nick Diaz, Royce Gracie, and the known shittiness of Quest Diagnostics, something is up.
May 5th, 2008 at 5:09 pm
Fuck Sean Sherk, I hope he dies.
May 5th, 2008 at 5:15 pm
SHERK RULES ALL YOU BJ NUTHUGGING BITCHES. seriously why are all these dudes pumped on a clown called bj? they hoping he’s gonna share his number 1 talent with them?
May 5th, 2008 at 5:17 pm
Hmmm let me propose this to all of you little CP asshats.
Who do you really want to win in the upcoming Sherk vs Penn fight?
Most will say Penn, why? because Sherk’s name has been smeared and will never be the same, Even though I believe he is innocent.
BJ Penn is an arrogant, blood licking bitch. I’m sorry I dont want his kind to be champions.
May 5th, 2008 at 5:18 pm
It’s clear that Sherk suffers from small-man syndrome
May 5th, 2008 at 5:42 pm
Sherk is a cheater, plain and simple
He claims that something was in his supplements, yeah right! All fighters take a million types of supplements, only Sherk gets busted and now he is complaing…
Sherk cheated, he will get subbed by BJ Penn…and then the only “title” he will have, is being a JUICER
May 5th, 2008 at 6:42 pm
Sherk says it was in his supplement but he didn’t know it so he shouldn’t be punished. He is choosing to take the 1001 supplements. If you ingest it you’re responsible to know what’s in it. Period.
May 5th, 2008 at 6:43 pm
So what if he juiced. What does that mean? That he can’t afford HGH? Anyway, I still don’t see him beating Penn. I want to see how staying lean effects his cardio.
May 5th, 2008 at 7:58 pm
I don’t think he did it. When so many other fighters got busted and just said “Yeah, you got me” and were basically written a pass for it, Sherk kept fighting it and kept insisting it was some kind of mistake. Good for him for sticking to his story, but even after he finishes off BJ Penn, I bet UFC still cuts him.
May 5th, 2008 at 8:11 pm
hahaha, “muscle cheating twat waffle” has gotta be one of the best ever. my sentiments exactly.
the cool part is that bj has twice the skill standing AND on the ground that the twat waffle has, as long as he’s in shape like he was against stevenson he should make short work of napoloen
May 5th, 2008 at 8:12 pm
@ Dota: love Lesnar’s nick name, hilarious…Im a fan of BJ, I hope he wins…
May 5th, 2008 at 8:18 pm
In regards to the Sherk/Penn fight I draw your attention firstly to Matt Hughes vs. B.J. Penn. Hughes had a fit trying to take B.J. down, and only ever managed it after B.J. dislocated his hip. I now refer you to Sean Sherk vs. Matt Hughes. Hughes outwrestled Sherk with two weeks training.
Hence B.J. is going to have his dirty dirty way with Sherk.
I don’t have much against Sherk. He’s not lay n pray by any stretch. He was passing Franca’s guard constantly, he just has very little power in his hands and elbows. Franca is also much smaller so Sherk could over power him…somethign he couldnt do with Florian’s guard.
Sherk is a respectful guy that puts a lot of effort into the sport. So does Ken Shamrock, but that doesn’t stop them from being douches.
May 5th, 2008 at 8:19 pm
By the way… Brock Lesnar is henceforth known as Cock Chestnar.
May 5th, 2008 at 8:22 pm
we should just make all the fighters take steroids and fight.
May 5th, 2008 at 8:37 pm
Sean Sherk raped my dog in a ‘roid rage.
May 5th, 2008 at 8:44 pm
LMAO @ Cock Chesnar
BJ is going to go all Mr. Fantastic on Sherk’s ass and submit him by the end of round 2.
May 5th, 2008 at 9:46 pm
I do not like BJ Penn, but then again I don’t like a fucking steroid taking liar like barry bonds…ohh sorry I mean sean sherk!
So if they fuck each other up that would be nice, but the realist in me says: “BJ by submission in the second round….and hopefully he will hold onto it to long and dana will fire his ass”
that would work for me.
May 5th, 2008 at 10:06 pm
Who Cares, as long as someone gets knocked out, im into it, isnt that what we all pay to see?
May 5th, 2008 at 10:50 pm
Seriously. Penn is gonna get gassed at Sherk is gonna beat him. One wya or another. I love how all you guys talk shit about Lesnar, Sherk and whoever else is popular to hate this month. When I’d like to see you guys train 1/16th as hard as they do and still fight in front of 1,000’s of people. Brock is gonna be a big thing in the UFC if he stays around and Sherk is already there. Now I’ll go back to my real life and leave you Sherk haters to continue.
May 5th, 2008 at 11:01 pm
A focused Penn is an unbeatable Penn, doesn’t matter how good sherk is. We just need to see the BJ that we saw in the Pulver fight, if he doesn’t it’s all Sherk.
May 5th, 2008 at 11:13 pm
I just wish he’d do the “shitbreak run” again after the fight.
May 5th, 2008 at 11:22 pm
Sherk actually passed his polygraph test. He passed other tests as well (just not the big one). In my opinion, he is innocent.
May 6th, 2008 at 12:32 am
Taking steroids in a sport where u have to cut weight doesn’t make sense. There is no weight limit in football and baseball, I can see the players having a motive to take steroids.
But what would be the point of an MMA fighter taking steroids? Getting big and buff really fast so you can drop more weight come time to fight? Come on now.
This… is Chewbacca.
May 6th, 2008 at 12:34 am
fuck all you motherfuckers, sherk is the man. You can make a compelling argument for either side. I’m not going to do that. Sherk is my favorite fighter, and BJ is the most talented fighter in the history of the sport. I’d like him a lot more if he wasn’t such a lazy stoner. I’ve always gravitated to athletes that beat other, superior athletes by sheer hard work and gameplan execution. Basketball: the modern day Spurs and Pistons, the Bad Boy Pistons of the 80s. Tennis: Jim Courier. Football: 70s Bears, Super Bowl Ravens squad. MMA: Tim Sylvia, Ricardo Arona and Sherk. I’ll take blue collar work ethic over flashy athletics but poor dedication any day.
May 6th, 2008 at 12:47 am
fuckin’ well put.
May 6th, 2008 at 12:54 am
rofl @ dota, nice name and rofl at hair gel, nothing wrong with that in a fight ! gotta look good for the ring ladies ;D
May 6th, 2008 at 2:20 am
who cares if he DID juice? penn’s still gonna rock him, and technique should be the deciding factor anyway, not who’s biceps are the biggest ay?
May 6th, 2008 at 5:08 am
haha 2 of your favorite fighters got caught for steroids: fem sylvia and sean nandro-shark sherk who are in the wrong sport. this is MIXED martial arts, not wrestling/kickboxing/jiu jitsu (regarding arona) GataROID should find another sport to watch and another site to post gay gataroid comments on
May 6th, 2008 at 5:16 am
put sherk, ken shamrock, lesnar, marquardt, bonner, and some other fighters on it
May 6th, 2008 at 5:26 am
Jeff: Steroid use in MMA is more for recovery time than muscle building. MMA athletes use steroids to heal their muscles faster, thus allowing them to get stronger and more prepared in less time’s notice.
May 6th, 2008 at 5:35 am
Couple of things: 1. The polygraph can be beaten. It’s fairly easy to be able to train yourself not to have a physiological reaction to lying (not that easy, but doable.) Plus, even if you’re not trained (or didn’t begin training immediately after you tested positive for steroids) the polygraph only has an accuracy rate of 66.7 percent anyway. As far as the low dose is concerned, Sherk could’ve been taking roids, cycled off well before the ufc event in hopes that it’d be outta his system by then, and made a miscalculation. And finally (i know i abandoned the bullets {as in the 1. 2. 3….}) I’ve heard that if an instrument used for steroid testing is properly cleaned you can get a positive test in subsequent tests. That’s all i have. I still think he’s guilty for the record, I was just playing devil’s advocate.
May 6th, 2008 at 6:04 am
CagePotato…you have let me down. No link from the “ill-advised design into your head” to a Kendall Grove picture. Even if that didn’t work, there’s always some disposable pictures of Heath Herring, Jonathan Goulet and Jens Pulver.
May 6th, 2008 at 8:20 am
Look at the monkey… look… look at the monkey.
*splat*
May 6th, 2008 at 9:31 am
lol @ Jeff and your lacking knowledge about steroids and your retardet explaination. steroids are great to cut fat and maintain musclemass…wouldnt a fighter wanna be as close to the weightlimit with as less fat and as much muscles as possible?? more muscles is more strength and speed. poor sherk should have been as smart as the rest of the guys in proffesional mma and used HGH or IGF-1. nandrolone has a detectiontime of 18 months, compared to a short estered testosterone that is 3 weeks..why he would do such a thing is just wierd
May 6th, 2008 at 10:54 am
steroids arent the only kind of juice sherk’s training partners shoot into his ass…
May 6th, 2008 at 12:20 pm
Well I hope Brock Lesner’s juiced up and angry little mini-me wins his next fight….cause that will tell it all….
May 6th, 2008 at 2:09 pm
First off, Sherk BARELY failed his drug test. It was a fraction too high. Nandro has a detection rate of up to 18 months. Even if he did take it to get the results that he got he would have had to been off of it for 16 or 17 months….which isn’t really steroid cycling. And for the record, IT OCCURS NATURALLY IN THE HUMAN BODY! A large majority of over-the-counter products contain illegal substances but fail to put them on the label since most supplements are not FDA regulated this fraction of a failed could have resulted from a small percentage of it in a supplement. People should look at facts before they accuse a “user” because if any of you are taking a supplement i bet you’ve got some ‘roids in there as well.
May 6th, 2008 at 6:23 pm
Sherk has no neck.
Sherk has no balls.
Sherk has bad knees…all signs of being a roid-headed fucker.
May 7th, 2008 at 2:09 am
I am surprised he hasnt fallen over from heart disease or cancer yet and i hope he does soon
May 7th, 2008 at 11:29 am
Talk talk talk talk littles bitches. Nothing but internet tough guys, with really really really small DICKS!!!!! Wishing death upon someone SICK little fuckers!!!! Go fuck your moms bcuz I know you guys ain’t getting no ass from chics!!!!!
I would be ANGRY to if my DICK was small, but I don’t have that problem!!!!!!!!!
May 10th, 2008 at 11:49 am
Damn Steroid Rage found the internet and is breaking it down for reelz.
I Hate all these “little bitches” to man I wish they wouldn’t write messages I mean wtf is the internet for an exchange of ideas what trash…..
Steroids are bad hmmK.
Trolls have big cocks I mean the biggest cocks around so big its stuck in there mouths most the time.