BJ Penn and Sean Sherk are two of the greatest pound for pound fighters in the world, and yet they couldn’t be more different. Penn is one of the greatest jiu-jitsu technicians on the planet, he’s limber and he’s agile. He strikes with finesse and versatility and shows some of the best technical savvy out there.

Sherk’s a technician too, but no one talks about his technique. He’s a wrestler, phenomenally skilled, but if you looked at him, you see a man built like a Greek statue, if the Greeks had been sponsored by Balco.

Sherk has one of the most incredibly athletic, potently strong games in the sport. He dominates opponents with sheer force of will and the muscle to back it up. His arms are like freakish inflatables and even when he was fighting at 170 pounds, he was considered by many to be one of the most physically dominant fighters in the division, losing only to the top two warriors of the era: Matt Hughes and Georges St. Pierre.

Some people think that the 155 pound division was built for Sean Sherk, but whether that is true or not, it has certainly become his pond, and he’s dominated it viciously.

Sherk’s only problem, and the only reason to question his dominance, came after he tested positive for steroids against Hermes Franca, and while Sherk was stripped of his title and suspended, he has been quick to deny the accusations, even taking a follow-up test that was negative.

Whether or not Sherk took steroids has everything to do wit this fight, as it will reveal whether the freakish physical specimen we have come to expect from Sherk shows up, or whether he is coming out to play with a serious disadvantage, weaning himself off of the juice.

We will see whether or not Sherk’s conditioning is what it once was, and some of us will question Sherk’s ability when it comes to handling a jiu-jitsu monster as quick and flexible as Penn. Certainly, if anyone is going to give Sherk trouble off of his back, it’s going to be the warrior from Hilo.

The fight is impending, at this point, and we’ll see soon who really deserves to win the UFC lightweight division. It will be a war between two top fighters who have danced around each other for a long time, and who’s smack talk has made clear there’s no love lost.

Personally, this is one of the best matchups the UFC has offered in a while, and I’m looking forward to it.

So why did the UFC decide to air a show opposite of live MMA action? If you go out and ask anyone on the street who Chuck Liddell is, you’ll get a pretty decent response. Ask those same people if they like watching live sports and your reaction might be even better. Ask people on the street if they enjoy documentaries and, well, your response might not be so positive. So what makes those running the UFC show think that people will stop watching EliteXC’s live Saturday Night Fights on CBS to learn about the life of an injured former light-heavyweight champion on Spike TV?

If anything, trying to go head to head with live action fights by using a documentary will only provide backup commercial-break material for MMA fans watching Saturday Night Fights. Will those viewers learn anything about Liddell in the few minutes between fights? Probably not. And I’m sure the whole point is to just grab viewers to learn about the UFC, MMA, and fighters, but I definitely don’t see a documentary doing any damage to EliteXC. As a fan, I’ll record the one-hour Liddell documentary and watch the live fights. I doubt anyone will be coming over at 9PM to learn about the Iceman and his rise to fame. Instead, the party will arrive when the fights begin and the bell rings.

A better solution, one that will never occur, is to set the Liddell documentary to begin either before or after the fighting action. If anything, it could provide an interesting lead into the fights or something to watch after the fights end. But head to head, the fights win.

It doesn’t end there, however. You can also watch Liddell and Wanderlei Silva go at it during UFC 79 for the first time on cable television at 10PM EST in the UFC’s second attempt to go head to head with Saturday Night Fights. Considering that Zuffa makes every attempt to keep their fights off of the internet, they may grab some viewers if Saturday Night Fights doesn’t meet the expectations of the viewers. But then you still have the people with TiVo’s and DVR’s who simply won’t sacrifice live footage for old news. Head to head, live fights are almost always better than their taped counterpart. Although the fight between Silva and Liddell went the distance, it lacked a climatic ending and may disappoint some. I’d suggest sticking to EliteXC’s broadcast to determine if Saturday Night Fights is something that will be be a consistent part of our Saturday nights.

It’s apparent the UFC isn’t gonig anywhere anytime soon.

The first possible scenario for Nog’s opponent could be Frank Mir. Mir’s rejuvenated career started with a win over WWE sensation Brock Lesnar at UFC 81 by submission. In that fight Lesnar seemed to be in control, and looked to win by knockout but Mir’s Ju Jitsu experience took over and led to a quick submission.

Another scenario would put the winner of the Brandon Vera and Fabricio Werdum up against the champ. Vera lost his previous fight by unanimous decision against Tim Sylvia at UFC 77. This was a disappointing performance by Vera and he looks to silence the critics against Werdum. Vera actually owns a TKO finish over Frank Mir, and is 8-1 in his MMA career. Fabricio Werdum is a submission fighter that is 10-3-1 in his professional fighting career. In his last fight he defeated up and coming star Gabriel Gonzaga, who is best known for his head kick to Mirko Cro Cop. Both of these fighters could be good competition for Nog, but they won’t be able to challenge him like Randy or Fedor could.

With the addition of Nog at UFC 87, it looks to be setting up a fight between the winner of the Nog fight, and the winner of the Lesnar vs. Coleman fight. Lesnar lost in his last fight, but showed promising skill and the makings of a heavyweight force. Coleman is one of the few inductees of the UFC hall of fame. He is a Hammer House fighter that is 15-8 in his career. He has wins over the likes of Shogun Rua, Don Frye, and Dan Severn. Coleman is currently the underdog in this fight and is expected to be a stepping stone for Lesnar.

There was a time when BJ Penn was considered the most dangerous fighter in the world, pound-for-pound the most frustrating man that you could have standing across the cage.

Even before BJ came into MMA, his skills as a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu practitioner were well documented. He was a prodigy in jiu-jitsu and he didn’t come across the name by accident. Penn is a world class submission fighter, and has one of the most incredible, innate abilities for learning the martial arts. Fighters as legendary as Frank Shamrock, who coached him when Penn first turned to MMA, have always been impressed with his ability to learn techniques and put them into practice.

While Penn is really most noted for his jiu-jitsu, his striking skills are also impressive, and he has displayed them most effectively when fighting at 155. When he initially began fighting at 155 pounds, he knocked out his first three opponents: Joey Gilbert, Din Thomas and Caol Uno.

There’s a serious chance Penn will fight Sherk off of his back, as Sherk has been known to ground and pound and hasn’t been afraid to take down any of the Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu blackbelts he’s fought recently (and both of the competitors who challenged him for his belt have been blackbelts). Still, there is a serious difference in competition between a blackbelt and a world champion blackbelt.

Penn has a level of jiu-jitsu that Sherk has not had to deal with, and has fought off of his back against bigger, powerful ground and pound fighters before, including in both of his fights with former Welterweight champion Matt Hughes. While Penn dropped the second fight with Hughes when he broke a rib and was eventually TKO’d in the third, he dominated the fight off of his back previous to that point and his quick submissions and flexibility make it hard to stay aggressive.

If Sherk chooses to take the fight to the ground, there’s a good chance that we will see the world class wizard at work, and if Sherk forces him to stay standing, we will see one of the most aggressive strikers in the lighter divisions.

Wherever BJ goes, it will be somewhere he is comfortable. He has power in every position and he can do damage from anywhere, and there’s a serious chance that the Prodigy will bring the undisputed title back to Hilo.

Sean Sherk is a physical specimen in the 155 pound weight division. He is the never get tired and top conditioned athlete that many strive to be like. If the UFC was a body building contest he would not have many competitors. However it is not, and in this game of fighting certain things are illegal.

After his last fight, Sherk tested positive for the steroid Nandrolone Metabolite. Other notable athletes that have also tested positive for Nandrolone are Roger Clemens (not confirmed yet), Sean Merriman, and Kurt Angle. This anabolic steroid naturally appears in the body and it’s one of the most abused steroids taken by athletes and other users. Nandrolone accelerates muscle growth, strength, aggressiveness, and recovery.

Once testing positive for this steroid, Sherk has stayed consistent stating “I worked extremely hard to get to this point in my career and now I have this attached to my name, even though I’m 100 percent innocent,” in an interview with Yahoo.

So there we were… Sherk tested positive and seems to be in the middle of a steroid controversy. He was stripped of his title and served his suspension. In one failed series of tests SHerk went from one of the fan favorite to one of the most hated fighters in the sport.

The main question I keep trying to answer is… Does Sherk deserve to fight for the title next?

On one side of the argument, he completed the requirements of his suspension. He should be the #1 contender assuming that he can fight with the same aggressiveness and constant pressure as before. This is the side that I tend to go with. Whether he was taking steroids or not, he completed the required punishment and it is now time to move on. If he is the same guy, Penn in my opinion is the only guy that can fight with Sherk in that division.

On the other side, many think that he should not be fighting for the title. He tested positive and has never came clean. Not one time has he ever stated that he did it and “manned up” for his actions. The Sherk hate was in full effect when Penn said “Sean Sherk your dead!”, as Sherk stepped in the ring. The boo birds were flying high and let him hear it. He did test positive, and most fans just want an apology.

It is unlikely we will ever truly know for sure whether Sherk was taking steroids or not. It would take him saying he did it for us to have complete confirmation. Sherk has been one of the most exciting fighters in the smaller weight classes of the UFC. According to the Fight Finder he has an insane 31-2-1 record. Not many can say that, and his only 2 losses were against great fighters. One was to a future Hall of Famer and the best 170 pound fighter of all time in Matt Hughes, the other was to the guy that beat Hughes for his title in George St. Pierre.

Sherk and Penn promises to be a great fight. I am not going to make my prediction yet, but the energy that Sherk will bring, and the great all around game of Penn should make this one of the fights of the year. I believe that Sherk should be fighting for the title. It was his to lose, he lost it, and now it is time for him to make his attempt to become the champion yet again.

In a recent blog post, Lutter confirmed the news.

Lutter’s record does not really tell his story. He is 1-2 since the UTF 4 finale and his only recent win came against Patrick Cote in that fight at the finale. Since then he has fought 2 of the best fighters at 185 in the world. In both of these fights he at one point seemed to have the upper hand.

After Travis fought Cote, he was offered a title shot against Anderson Silva. At the moment Silva is considered to be the best fighter pound for pound in the world by many fans! Lutter had control of this fight at one time. He had Silva mounted and was raining shots to the face and head of Silva, but was unable to finish. Shortly after this point Silva was able to reverse things and gain control. Lutter eventually tapped due to some nasty elbows by Silva. Lutter did lose this fight but looked very solid in the cage at one point.

In his next fight in the UFC he fought against one of the most popular fighters in the division in Rich Franklin. Franklin was rebounding off of another Silva loss, and seemed determined not to have his nose broke yet again. For one split second in this fight, Lutter had Franklin in trouble. Lutter tried an armbar attempt that surely put a scare to Franklin and his training camp. After the failed submission attempt, Lutter seemed to gas as Franklin dominated the rest of the fight to win.

Travis Lutter will indeed be picked up by another MMA organization. If he is to make a push for their title, he needs to improve the conditioning and standup portions of his game. Overall he has 9 wins and 5 losses, with 7 of the wins coming from submission. In his career he has been victorious over fighters such as Marvin Eastman and Patrick Cote. Lutter does not have the overall game to become a champion in the UFC, but he is a veteran that can finish a fight by submission from any position. We will hear more from him in the future for sure.

As far as Joe Silva’s options for a title contender, the welterweight division is not seriously promising, but I think that we are more or less garunteed a fight between St. Pierre and Jon Fitch. While this fight isn’t particularly interesting to me, I do think that it will give Fitch some credibility to see him step in with a big name like Georges. Those are my simplified thoughts on the future of the welterweight division with its new, expected champion.

Mac Danzig is quickly establishing himself as a force in the division. He was one of the rare anomalies on TUF not to win because of a decision or freak injury (I throw that last part in to take out Nate Diaz, because I have a hard time calling that win legitimate). I like Danzig, and I’ve followed his small circuit career a little bit (mostly because I wanted to scout him when he was signed by Pride).

He’s not quite ready for a title shot, but I think that he should be expecting a matchup against one of the 155 pound divisions more substantial fighters. Honestly, I’d like to see him fight Kurt Pellegrino, or have a TUF winner matchup with Nate Diaz. (though I am a bit unsure of that matchup, because I did pick up Diaz for my UFC/WEC fantasy team, and I don’t think he’d come out of a fight with Danzig that well)

The late finish by Danzig may not get him a whole lot of attention, but I see that caution about pushing him as unnecessary. While I’m aware that his strength is submission fighting, and that the UFC has a hard time putting together a highlight reel without big strikes and slams, Danzig is the kind of guy who deserves the attention and, because of his reality show background, may just get it.

Rich Clementi may have actually set himself back on the ladder, by not managing to finish Sam Stout (an opponent who has been showing some improvement in the submissions department, but who Clementi should dominate). Even with Clementi’s win over Melvin Guillard, he is not going to look that great if he can’t get all three judges to agree on how to score his fights.

The Franklin vs. Lutter fight was more exciting than I think most people expected it to be (as it was pretty much signed over by most people as a classic, Rich Franklin starching), but Lutter managed to stay alive until late round two. Unfortunately, he seems to be having trouble with his cardio.

Jason MacDonald’s stopping of Joe Doeksen was good, and may keep MacDonald in the big show, not necessarily by making him a contender (because he’s out of that at least for a little while), but by making him an exciting gatekeeper and middle of the pack guy at 185.

Overall, I found the event interesting, and more exciting than I would normally have expected. Still, I’m keeping my eyes ahead, focused on UFC 84, where we’re going to have some seriously fun matchups, and not the favorite-heavy card we saw at UFC 83.

Let’s take a look at some of the possible scenarios.

Injury: There’s a chance that Starnes entered the cage with a training injury and didn’t want to get hurt worse. We’ve heard of fighters walking into a fight with injuries and not saying a thing. Some of these fighters, like Frank Shamrock, ended up dominating and winning despite their injures while others, like Tim Sylvia, talked about their injury during the post-fight interview, post-fight press conference, or in a later interview. Although many fans and some writers feel that talking about injuries after a loss is just an excuse, it’s still commendable for anyone to step into a fight and risk their bodies because they are committed to truly fighting.

Mentally Unprepared: Hailing from British Columbia, Starnes was, by default, initially favored by the Canadian crowd in Montreal. There’s a lot of pressure when you’re fighting in front of your hometown fans along with potentially a million or more world-wide viewers. Did Starnes mentally break down? As the fight was called by the judges, the camera alternated between Quarry and Starnes. The crowd cheered for Quarry, the American, and booed their Canadian fighter. Ouch.

Gameplan: His last fight against Alan Belcher during UFC 77 ended when a huge cut opened on his head. Was Starnes looking to keep the fight on the ground and away from his face this time? Whatever game plan he had in mind certainly fell apart within minutes as he backpedaled towards an embarrassing 30-24 decision loss. Even worse, he began talking trash to Quarry and his corner before the official decision was being tallied by the judges.

Jumping Ship: Did Starnes want out of the UFC? Was there another promotion offering more money or a better contract? Face it, the UFC offers the big bucks to the big names and some of the smaller names make less than if they were with a smaller rival promotion. Did he already try to negotiate out of his contract with Dana White and the UFC organization only to be told that he had to fight? Did he throw the fight to make the UFC look bad? Perhaps Starnes lost his desire to fight and is done with MMA for good.

Although we’re still waiting to hear what Kalib Starnes has to say about the fight, Dana White has already made his remarks at the post-fight press conference.

“It takes two guys to fight. Nate is the only one to show. If I was fighting in my home country, I’d rather get knocked out than run around like that. I think he’ll wake up tomorrow and wish he fought a different fight.”

Ouch. I doubt we will see Starnes in the UFC again. We may, however, see him in another organization. I’m looking forward to hearing what he has to say about his actions at UFC 83. While I’m thinking this whole debacle was due to an injury or a mental breakdown, I wouldn’t be surprised if there were other reasons for Starnes pitiful performance.

Still, I’m willing to look past the Serra vs. St. Pierre matchup because I want to aware that the best matchup the UFC has promised this year is coming, and while there’s been some talk, it’s not getting the credibility it deserves, and part of that is political, and all of it is crap.

If you’re still not aware of which fight I’m talking about, I’m talking about UFC 84’s main event: Sean Sherk vs. BJ Penn. It’s going to be a war, and everybody knows that this is going to a challenge for both fighters, because of how perfectly their skill sets match up.

I’m a bit BJ biased, because I think that Sherk is guilty of steroid use, and I think that BJ is, pound for pound, one of the greatest warriors in this sport. When BJ steps in with Sherk, though, he’ll be stepping in with a fighter that is, realistically speaking, the ultimate sparkplug.

Both of these guys have come down from 170 and have run the 155 pound division both have fought way above that weight class. Since Dana reestablished the division and brought these two warriors into it, the two are undefeated, and both have wins over top guys in other organizations. Penn choked out Takanori Gomi. Sherk beat Nick Diaz.

This is, without a doubt, a top fight for me. While I do think that it’s questionable whether or not they are the top two guys in the division (which could be argued all sorts of ways, with the chaos of Gomi, Diaz, KJ Noons and all of the other players who are making this division so much fun to watch) they are certainly the top two guys in the Octagon, and they are two fighters that many would have liked to see fight in the 170 pound division a long time ago, when they made up the top tier of that division with Georges St. Pierre and Matt Hughes.

My technical analysis of these two fighters and their matchup will come soon, but I do think that this is the greatest fight of the year thus far, as far as the quality of the two fighters stepping into the cage.

Canada is known for beer, cold weather, and hockey - and the fights that come with the sport. And for the first time, the UFC will be bringing the fighting to Canada in another sport which is quickly gaining mainstream attention by the Canadian press these days. It’s a move that many hardcore fans have been talking about ever since Georges St. Pierre made Matt Hughes verbally tap out during UFC 79. It’s also a move that will make the UFC a lot of money through the nearly-instant gate sellout along with the potential Pay-Per-View numbers which may rival some of the UFC’s other big PPV events if both Canadians and U.S. fans decide to watch the event live on television. And after Matt Serra decided to call out St. Pierre as “Frenchy” last May, you just might see the most eclectic UFC crowd on television ever.

But there’s more than hometown crowds, beer, and PPV numbers when it comes down to fighting. Let’s take a look at the televised matchups, including two of the five middleweight bouts, for UFC 83. (Note to UFC: Just hold a middleweight tournament and left the winner fight Anderson Silva.)

Mac Danzig vs. Mark Bocek
Long before The Ultimate Fighter 6 ended, many were predicting an easy victory for ex-Pride and longtime King of the Cage fighter Mac Danzig. While Danzig was able to control and defeat all of his TUF opponents, it’s been a little while since he has won a tough fight. With back to back losses at the hands of Clay French and Hayato Sakurai, Danzig is looking to come back with an impressive win over Mark Bocek. I’m assuming he’ll want to bring the fight to the ground although he has done a pretty good job of ending fights with his hands as well. As for the Jiu-Jitsu fighter from Toronto, Bocek is probably looking to go to the ground as well so we might see a technical ground battle throughout this fight. Bocek has a chance as he is coming off a win over Doug Evans in UFC 79, but Danzig has the experience. Danzig by Submission in Round 2.

Charles McCarthy Vs. Michael Bisping
It’s a war of trash talk between these two on the internet and it’s certainly nothing new for English UFC fighter, MIchael Bisping. While Bisping has dropped down to 185 after his split decision loss to Rashad Evans, McCarthy is looking to come back after losing to Pete Sell during The Ultimate Fighter 4 and beating Gideon Ray at the TUF 4 finale back in November of 2006. It’s a redemption fight for Bisping and a hopeful comeback for McCarthy as both are set to fight. I’m not really buying into the trash talking as Bisping did the same thing with Evans and then we watching another bad fight. I’m interested, however, to see if Bisping gets boo’ed because of his antics after the Matt Hamill fight last year. I see Bisping winning, but by decision.

Nate Quarry Vs. Kalib Starnes
I don’t know too much about either fighter aside from what they have recently done in the UFC. I blame this partially on the UFC for not marketing these fighters at all before a huge show like UFC 83 and partially on me. To be honest, neither of these guys have done anything to impress me in the past, but it doesn’t take away anything from them considering they are both just looking to move up and take that potential title fight against Anderson Silva. Quarry has beaten Pete Sell twice, but lost to Rich Franklin during UFC 56 back in 2005. As for Kalib Starnes, the man who had one of the nastiest cuts ever on television, he has beaten Chris Leben in the past, but like Quarry, he’s looking to slowly continue moving up the middleweight ladder to take on Silva. I’m thinking Quarry will take this fight, but I’m not leaning too heavily. Hopefully he doesn’t win by a cut against Starnes like Alan Belcher in UFC 77.

Travis Lutter Vs. Rich Franklin
Josh Stein has a nice write-up about this fight here and there’s not too much more to say. Both fighters need this win and if Travis Lutter can dominate Rich Franklin, he may get a chance at Anderson Silva since nobody else can beat him. Franklin needs a knockout win to overcome the back to back losses against Silva (with a decision against Yushin Okami thrown in the middle) or else we may see him back away from fighting. Lutter has underdog written all over him for MMA betting fans, but he may take the win over a very beaten Franklin. I’m thinking that Lutter has a chance to win this on the ground in the opening round because Franklin is just getting too soft these days.

Matt Serra Vs. Georges St-Pierre
It’s the New York Italian versus the French Canadian in what could be a great showdown in Montreal. You know that Serra is looking to upset the sold-out Bell Arena after talking trash in May, but can he overcome the huge hometown crowd? Georges St. Pierre, noted as one of the most well-rounded pound for pound fighter by many hardcore fans, is looking to continue his domination over the welterweight weight class on April 19th. Josh Stein has another nice write-up about this fight here which doesn’t leave much else to be said. Although I think Serra has a chance, I think St. Pierre will just overpower him like he did to the Midwestern farm boy, Matt Hughes earlier this year. I think Hughes had the best chance out of anyone to stop St. Pierre and he was dominated on the ground and standing. St. Pierre in Round 2 via knockout.

Interesting Facts about UFC 83:

• UFC 83 was supposed to be UFC 84, but the UFC canceled their March 8th event.
• 21,000 tickets were sold in record time - also a record number for live gate tickets.
• Patrick Cote was set to fight, but he slipped and fell, thus removing himself.
• Both Serra and St. Pierre are welterweight champions with St. Pierre holding an interim belt.