Okotoks martial arts students got some hands-on instruction from a former UFC world champion last week.
Sean “The Muscle Shark” Sherk, the former UFC lightweight champion, instructed approximately 17 students at Foothills Training Services in Okotoks on July 18 about martial arts.
“It was just awesome,” said 16-year-old Nick Baldwin. “It was great to learn different things from a guy who was world champion.”
Sherk has fought some of the best in his 13-year career, in which he has racked up a 36-4-1 record.
One of his losses was to Canadian superstar Georges St. Pierre in UFC 56 in Las Vegas in 2005 in a welterweight match.
“That was before he won the (welterweight) belt,” Sherk said. “The guy is as good as it gets. He has held that belt for so long and I can’t see anybody taking it away from him.
GSP does everything. He beat me on a TKO.”
Sherk, 38, said the popularity of Mixed Martial Arts has exploded and likely has surpassed boxing because it appeals to the younger generation.
“With Generation X it is all about the bigger, the faster and the more dangerous,” Sherk said. “Mixed martial arts just followed the whole evolution of sports. I think it is safe to say that boxing is dying and MMA had something to do with that.”
He said the sports’ image has also improved since the early 1990s – UFC 1 was in 1993 in Denver. Back in those days the older generation would often call it “human cockfighting.”
“All of the athletic state commissions have got on board and they have unified the rules and those rules have allowed MMA to go more mainstream,” Sherk said.
The highlight of Sherk’s career was when he dropped from a welterweight to a lightweight and won the world championship by beating Kenny Florian at UFC 64 in Las Vegas. He successfully defended his title by beating Hermes Franca in 2007. However, he was stripped of his title after the fight by the California State Athletic Association for testing positive for steroids. He suspension was reduced to six months from a year after he appealed the test results.
He said his career spiraled downward after the positive test. He stated adamantly he has never taken steroids.
“The association accused me of doing something I didn’t do,” Sherk said. “I took three polygraph tests, I took blood tests and blood tests don’t lie, but unfortunately they wouldn’t overturn it. It was a huge blackeye in my career, but life goes on and you have to move forward.”
Sherk said he hopes to return to the octagon, however the match has to be to his suiting.
“I don’t want to fight an up-and-comer,” Sherk said. “I want to fight someone who has been there before, who maybe has lost a title fight.”
He has not fought since September of 2010.
Sherk’s eyes lit up when he heard Okotoks was home to a high school provincial wrestling program.
