Is Sean Sherk one of the most underrated fighters in MMA history?

[IGotAHugePeckah]

Former Lightweight and Steroid (according to BJ) champion.

36-4, with his only losses coming to PRIME Matt Hughes, PRIME GSP, PRIME BJ Penn, and PRIME Frankie Edgar. He only lost to world champs.

Since he retired it's like he dropped off the face of the earth. I can't remember hearing anything about him in many years.

Is he one of the less talked about, most underrated guys in MMA history?

 

[Sansnom]

Probably. He's criminally underrated. Only lost to legends.

All natty also

 

[Zebra Cheeks]

Probably. He's criminally underrated. Only lost to legends.

All natty also

I remember hearing his nickname and seeing him fight the for the first time and thinking “oh ok so roids are legal”

 

[Fossor]

People forgot about him, but back then he was considered one of the best

 

[chinarice]

Sean "The Hero of Time" Sherk is very underrated here.

Loss to Penn when he was good, GSP, Hughes and Frankie Edgar. All 155 and 170 champs at one point in time.

 

[robertcop2]

Roids. One dimensional boring manlet.

 

[bubbleboyjones]

the steriod shark

 

[Pierced7681]

One of my fav fighters, always enjoyed his fights.

 

[ExitLUPin]

Yeah if u just use fight finder

in reality he was a really good fighter but not special, relied alot on his size

Dunham also got robbed against him, clear 2-1 for Evan

and Nick arguably took rounds 2 and 3 in their fight too

He beat a few good fighters but alot of literal nobodies to fluff his resume too

 

[JayPettryMMA]

One of the few fighters involved in a fight where both fighters tested positive after it was over (against Franca), and it was a title fight to boot. Even though he fought for a belt in his next fight less than a year later, his legacy took a serious hit and arguably never recovered.

That said, 31-1-1 with a lone loss to Matt Hughes (before getting knocked out by GSP) is a pretty impressive accomplishment. Big ol' asterisk next to his career, though.

 

[Geo_Mac]

I just saw a Rogan segment where he commended Sherk on choosing to retire at the right time. He just quietly stepped away from the spotlight when he knew it was right and not retire/un-retire, get into bar fights, jump promotions, etc... he just had the right people around him. Sherk was also tremendously undersized for both weight classes he fought at but held his own due to his crazy conditioning but if FW and BW were around during his time it would have been a whole different ballgame.

 

[laugh@u]

Yes. He was a monster wrestler, with solid jiu jitsu, and insance cardio. He still has one of the best shots and blast doubles in all of MMA.

 

[Klaavical]

I just saw a Rogan segment where he commended Sherk on choosing to retire at the right time. He just quietly stepped away from the spotlight when he knew it was right and not retire/un-retire, get into bar fights, jump promotions, etc... he just had the right people around him. Sherk was also tremendously undersized for both weight classes he fought at but held his own due to his crazy conditioning but if FW and BW were around during his time it would have been a whole different ballgame.

You have to be old to get this reference

 

[FreddieRoachsVoice]

People crap on his level of competition but he was competing in an era where mma was not even legal in a lot of places let alone paying well but he still fought often and fought who he could.

Many "fans" only saw him at the tail end of his career where he was worn down after years of some of the most intense training ever but Prime Sherk had a style that would be successful in any era. An iron chin, great wrestling, ungodly submission defense, fast hands that set-up takedowns well, and some of the best cardio in mma history will take you pretty far.

The current rankings at LW are full of strikers with unproven takedown defense and yet a dominant grappler still sits at the top. Many fighters from the past might not translate well into modern day but Sherk would do very well IMO.

 

[WhuffieCollector]

The problem is that he seemed so roided up at his peak that we have no idea how good he actually was, and after he was caught he had a string of injuries that wrecked the rest of his best years.

Most of those wins were against people no one's ever heard of.

Against "quality" opponents, he's around 8-4, but 6 of those wins came before he popped, so it's hard to judge his career overall.

I definitely would not consider him one of the most underrated though. He was very highly regarded. If anything, I'd say the uncertainty around juicing would make him overrated (i.e. was he really that good or what it all juice, considering he couldn't seem to stay healthy after he was caught).

If it were possible to prove he wasn't cheating, that it was in fact lab error as he claimed, then I might agree with you, but that seems highly unlikely to me.

 

[Taric]

Congrats on defeating Ken-Flo and Franca. Who cares lol

 

[jx820]

He wasn't one of the all time greats, but he wasn't off by much. I didn't particularly care for him, so I didn't give him his due, but he was a fantastic fighter. With hindsight I'd have liked to see him in a pre-usada post WEC merger 145 division.

 

[weaponzero2k2]

Former Lightweight and Steroid (according to BJ) champion.

36-4, with his only losses coming to PRIME Matt Hughes, PRIME GSP, PRIME BJ Penn, and PRIME Frankie Edgar. He only lost to world champs.

Since he retired it's like he dropped off the face of the earth. I can't remember hearing anything about him in many years.

Is he one of the less talked about, most underrated guys in MMA history?

Man I think you're right ...He just couldn't get that signature win

 

[Taric]

People crap on his level of competition but he was competing in an era where mma was not even legal in a lot of places let alone paying well but he still fought often and fought who he could.

He was champion from 2006-2007, not pre-2000. The honest truth is that the UFC had a really bad LW roster until the WEC and Strikeforce merged with them. The best LWs on the planet fought in Japan when Sherk fought, and that includes BJ Penn.

 

[JBJISGOAT]

Roids. One dimensional boring manlet.

Yet you are a fan of Khabob???