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Sean Sherk will be married for 10 years this July. Traditionally, ten years conjoined in marital bliss is known





as the tin or aluminum anniversary, and in the modern age, it’s celebrated with a gift of diamond jewelry. Go ahead and tell your spouse of less than ten years this fact and guaranteed you will receive romantic brownie points for exhibiting forward thinking. In Sherk's case, his decade long soul mate is named Mixed Martial Arts and no he doesn't call her Mary for short but a pet abbreviation: MMA. Endearing, isn't it?

Cue the tenor sax of John Coltrane, for this 'Love Supreme' has been a rollercoaster staccato resulting in numerous victories around the globe. With and impressive 37 wins, 3 losses and 1 draw, Sherk proves true the old adage: never go to bed angry with the one you love and you will reap a successful relationship. Dr. Philip McGraw would wax poetic.

"I really put a lot into what I do; it's a 24-hour a day / 7 day a week commitment and I take it real serious,” said Sherk. “I train all the time, my diet is real spot on the money, I do my homework on my opponents, make sure I get a lot of sleep and a lot of rest, a lot of rehab. It's a 12 week commitment, so I'd have to say that it's probably the biggest attribute to my success."

Looking at the record, Sherk is a freak of nature. Going 17-0-1 to start his career, he careened through competitors at rapid-fire speed. Sherk's list of bodies include former UFC and WEC standouts Tiki Ghosn, Karo Parisyan (twice) and Manny Gamburyan, all of whom lined his early record with impressive wins as a welterweight. When he first met defeat it was at the hands of the most dominant welterweight in UFC history, Matt Hughes, and for the UFC welterweight title no less.

Rebounding with ease, Sherk amassed another winning streak until he ran into current UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre, who stopped the run of victories with a second round TKO in 2005. After his next fight, a unanimous decision victory over Nick Diaz, Sherk divorced the welterweight division and re-married the newer younger model all women dread, the lightweight.

"Well I was always pretty small for a welterweight anyway; I only walk around at 175 pounds, and most of those guys were dropping from 195 or 200 pounds. But the reason that I actually went down was because the UFC offered me a title shot at 155. I had always said I could make the weight class, I just needed a reason to go down and the UFC offered me a title shot and that was a pretty good reason."

Up for the challenge of a reinstated lightweight division was also Kenny Florian, and at UFC 64, aptly titled 'Unstoppable,' Sherk cemented his legacy by winning the belt at the end of the night. Unfortunately his next fight (a win over Hermes Franca) would force a divorce upon him and a separation from his love in general in the form of a California State Athletic Commission suspension when he tested positive for a banned substance, Nandrolone. Belt seized, Sherk waited it out while BJ Penn bested Joe Stevenson to become the UFC lightweight champion. Their eventual meeting at UFC 84 in 2008 was fate and indeed fateful for the former unstoppable lover of mixed martial arts.

"(Penn) was just a better fighter that night,” said Sherk. “He out boxed me, he was able to stop my takedowns, you know, he's one of the best pound-for-pound in the world and he has been for a real long time. BJ was a better fighter that night and with that being said I would obviously love to fight BJ again one day to try to avenge that loss."

Fast on the comeback trail after getting the 'W' and 'Fight of the Night' honors at UFC 90 against Tyson Griffin, Sherk will now face hardcore New Jersey representative Frankie Edgar at UFC 98 on May 23rd. Anxious to get another shot at the title, Edgar is the only obstacle standing in the way of a trip back to the belt race.

"This fight has all the makings to be another really, really fast-paced exciting fight; I think it's got the potential to be another 'Fight of the Night' fight. Frankie is real aggressive, he's fast, he's explosive, and I'm aggressive, I'm fast, and I'm explosive; you get two

aggressive, fast, explosive guys in a cage together and big things are going to happen as you saw with me and Tyson. So I think stylistically this is a great matchup for me and Frankie and it's a great matchup for the fans to watch so I think this is going to be a great fight. Obviously I think a win over Frankie puts me another step closer to that belt."

Already one of the most respected fighters in history, Sean Sherk has only himself to prove something to. The thought of the belt in his grasp again has him salivating, for it is love at the core of the want. Any hopeless romantic knows that at the end of any movie, love prevails over all to save the day. However, this is a sport, and love manifests itself in many forms. Perhaps the mere fact that Sherk can already claim more than most of his peers athletically can be enough to fill any potential voids.

"I want to be remembered as one of the best of the best for a long time,” he said. “I was ranked as high as number two in the world at one time at welterweight and I dropped to lightweight and won a world title, becoming the best in the world as a lightweight. That's the legacy I want to leave on everybody when I do exit the sport, which is going to be a while yet. I still have some things to do before I go anywhere but I still want to leave that legacy and I want to be remembered for a long time as one of the pioneers of this industry. "

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but I just don't think Kenny is as good as everyone is making him out to be.

Thats because he isnt. If you look at who kenny beat look at what his oppnts fought and theres really no top contenders in those fights,