July 5, 2007
By Roy Lang III
rflang@gannett.com
The tiny town of Oak Grove, Minn., might as well be light years from north Louisiana. The areas of the country don’t have much in common, but that will change this weekend.
Saturday, many “Cajuns” and “yankees” will unite as Sean Sherk fans.
Sherk will enter the Octagon at ARCO Arena in Sacramento, Calif., to defend his Ultimate Fighting Championship Lightweight championship belt against Hermes Franca.
The 33-year-old Minnesota native won over plenty of Louisiana mixed-martial artists and UFC fans when he came to Monroe for an appearance at an amateur MMA show during his training for this title defense. The next day, the 155-pounder they call “Muscle Shark” conducted an MMA seminar at a Bossier City martial arts center.
Many of the fighters and fans he touched will be part of the millions watching Saturday’s pay-per-view card.
“He is super, super, super nice,” said Kurt Fuqua, who was a pupil at Sherk’s clinic in March at Impact Martial Arts. “He’s down to earth. Heck, he stayed at my house.”
Being a 5-foot-6, 155-pound “nice guy” might not seem to pull much weight when things get tough, but Fuqua, who stands about 250 pounds, says there is another dimension to Sherk.
“He twisted me around like a pretzel,” Fuqua said. “He’s powerful. It’s unbelievable.”
The locals dreaming of competing in the UFC, and even the novices participating in the clinic, weren’t the only beneficiaries. Sherk believes trips like those to Monroe and Bossier City are about more than just appearance fees and self promotion.
“I like to get around. I like to travel. I like to meet all these different people — all these different fighters. The seminars are fun. It’s a real good time,” Sherk said. “Ultimately, I like to watch the fighters come up at these smaller shows. It brings back a lot of memories. That’s where I started. I had 30 fights in smaller shows. I’ve been to all those venues.”
Not only did local fighter Brandon Rondon fight in front of Sherk — and another UFC star, Jorge Gurgel — in Monroe, Rondon won the International Sport Combat Federation’s (ISCF) South Central Amateur Featherweight belt.
“I dedicated the fight to him and Jorge, just appreciating them to come out and witness that,” said Rondon, who defends his title next week at Harrah’s Louisiana Downs. “It was the real thing knowing (the UFC) is what I’m trying to get into and make it big. With them there, they can put in a good word for me.”
Having Sherk present in the ring as Rondon was presented his belt was wonderful, but getting to work with the UFC champ was even better.
“He was very knowledgeable about standing up and ground fighting,” said Rondon, who will fight Michael Sierra on July 14. “Everything he did was technique and not power. Although he does have the power, he uses his technique a lot more.
“When we rolled with him, he tapped us all out four or five times in about a minute and a half. His technique was awesome.”
The Franca-Sherk bout is part of UFC 73: Stacked – an appropriate name considering the evening may feature the deepest UFC fight card in its history. Sherk’s only two losses in seven UFC fights came to former UFC Welterweight champs Georges St. Pierre and Matt Hughes.
Sherk obviously enjoyed his time as a journeyman, but the perks that come along with holding a UFC championship belt are pretty nice.
“Then again, it’s also nice not to have to worry about fighting on those shows anymore, too,” said Sherk, who is more than a 2-1 favorite to defeat Franca.
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