Sean Sherk vs. Gleison Tibau Added to UFC 103
A lightweight bout between former 155-pound champion Sean Sherk and Gleison Tibau has been added to the rumored lineup for UFC 103 on September 19 in Dallas, Texas, MMAFrenzy.com has confirmed.
Sherk became the UFC’s lightweight champion in late-2006 by winning the vacant belt with a victory over Kenny Florian. Sherk successfully defended the title in July 2007 with a win over Hermes Franca, but tested positive for steroids after the fight and was stripped of the title and suspended for six-months. “The Muscle Shark” returned in May 2008 and immediately challenged BJ Penn for the lightweight belt, but suffered a third-round TKO. After winning “Fight of the Night” honors in an October win over Tyson Griffin, Sherk was defeated by Frankie Edgar via unanimous decision at UFC 98 in May.
Tibau, 5-4 since first-joining the UFC in late-2006, holds wins inside the Octagon over Jason Dent, Jeff Cox, Terry Etim, Rich Clementi, and Jeremy Stephens while losing bouts to Nick Diaz, Tyson Griffin, Joe Stevenson, and Melvin Guillard. He had won back-to-back fights over Clementi and Stephens, before losing to Guillard in his most-recent bout in June.
Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic vs. Junior dos Santos is expected to co-headline UFC 103 alongside a main event featuring Rich Franklin against an opponent to-be-announced. Mike Swick vs. Martin Kampmann, Josh Koscheck vs. Frank Trigg, and Efrain Escudero vs. Cole Miller are also rumored for the card.
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[Pictured: Sean Sherk]
Tags: Gleison Tibau, Sean Sherk
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Card is shaping up to be a good one, now it just needs a headliner and it should be good to go
ya for some reason im feeling tibau in this battle and i dont know why…i think tibau might be able to pull this one off
Sean Sherk shouldn’t be in this position, he kinda messed things up for himself. What i mean is that lately he’s been trying to stand-up with guys and trying to prove that he “can box”. That is why i feel he lost to Frankie Edgar. Sherk is great at what he does best which is take guys down and control them, that’s what he needs to stick to because that’s what got him the 155 title in the first place. Sherk has the best cardio in the game, he puts on a crazy pace that most guys cannot keep up with, and he has one of the biggest hearts and “never say die” attitudes in MMA, he should stick to his base and i feel he’ll have no problem with Tibau. Tibau is a decent fighter, but if Sherk comes in as the old Sherk and takes Tibau down, i don’t see Tibau winning unless he scores a sub which is a hard thing to do to a guy that never stops.
That’s becoming a trend lately, wrestlers wanting to prove their stand-up game (e.g. Kos and Hughes). They need to stick with what worked for them in the past. I’m not saying only take people down but you can’t just stand in the pocket and try and trade with people who have been training in boxing or muay thai for as long as you have been doing wrestling and not expect to get caught.
MMA fighters with such short arms should not rely on stand up in my opinion. Although Matt Serra did prove to be an exception.
Well said EtherBunny. I couldn’t agree more. Hughes,kos,maynard,fitch,sherk and many more wrestlers are training more and more on their stand up. I think in this ever evoloving sport, it’s very important to train in all areas especially those areas where you’re most vurnerable. My only issue would be exactly what you said, some of these guys start to drift from the tools that got them to where they’re at in the first place. ie: Sherk vs Edgar. If sherk would have shot for more takedowns, he would have owned edgar but since he decided to stand with him, he lost a decision. Another one is kos vs paulo thiago. Kos is a sick wrestler with some sick take downs and if he took paulo to the mat, he wouldn’t have gotten ko’d. He was winning the stand up match so maybe this is a bad example, but you guys get my point.
Having said that, this card is going to be sick dude. I just hope for the main event that they give franklin (if he headlines) luiz cane instead of lidell.
franklin will not be fighting liddell no matter what franklin has already said he wants the luiz cane fight because he said its a fight that he thinks will challenge but he thinks he can win….and he said he has no interest in fighting chuck liddell
Lidell did state that IF he returns, he will not do so until April 2010.
This is an interesting fight becasue we dont know what either fighter will be looking to do.
I see these guys as fairly even on the feet. Speed to Sherk, accuracy to Tibau. Both have similar power and chins. The winner of this fight will likely be the one who can continuously get top control. Sherk is very ineffective off his back, but at his best when he smothers guys. Sherk’s cardio has seemed lacking lately and I see them fairly even in that department as well. Important fight for either guy.
The UFC just keeps loading this card up with as much available decent talent as they can pull together.
I know a lot of Texas-area fans are pi$$ed off with the lack of a main event, and I agree with their point of view, but the promotion is doing all it can to stack the card to counter-balance the lack of a main event.
I strongly agree with those who have questioned the “wisdom” of ground fighters who suddenly become enamored of striking. It’s an unintelligent choice to make, just ask Jorge Gurgel, or Matt Hughes, or Josh Koscheck, or even Frank Mir. Leave the striking to the strikers, and stick to what you do best, either a wrestling/g-n-p skillset or a submission grappling skillset. Both have proven to be devastatingly effective in the Octagon.
Sean Sherk has already made this mistake, and it cost him against Frankie Edgar. With no disrespect intended to Edgar, who is a fine MMA fighter, but Sherk should have won that bout by grounding Edgar and pounding him out, preferably against the cage.
Sherk chose his gameplan unwisely, and paid the price, as others have.
If Sherk returns to what brought him earlier success, he should beat Tibau. However if Sherk keeps channeling old PKA fighters like Benny Urquidez on fight night, he’s going to keep getting the same results, and keep collecting losses.
Also, does anyone else thing this might be a “winner keeps his job” type bout? Neither fighter has been impressive of late, and the UFC does from time to time enforce a “2 looses in a row and you’re cut” policy. Unfortunately [for them] Sherk and Tibau seem like prime candidates for that policy.
And the “elephant in the room” so to speak is Rich Franklin, as it relates to UFC 103. I’m sure the UFC is trying their level best to make a quality match for him that will make for a great fight and be in aid of ticket sales and PPV buy, but so far they’re coming up with zilch.
The problem is with all of the events the UFC has had recently, there doesn’t appear to be a “name” LHW available for duty. I wouldn’t be a bit surprised if someone from the matchmaker’s office put a word or two in Luiz Cane’s ear, or the ear of someone in his camp, about “calling out” Franklin, thinking this would be the “backstory” for putting them in a bout.
Their first mistake is thinking that Franklin’s name alone can make a fight a main event. That might have maybe worked years ago, but as the sport has evolved so have the fans. The UFC hasn’t been to Texas all that much, and when they are there you’d think they would be ready, but they are clearly not. The Texas fans want and deserve a white-hot main event. And as of yet the promotion isn’t delivering.
Franklin versus Cane isn’t a PPV main event, even remotely.
Regardless of the opinions of Cane’s supporters, he’s not main even material. And I’m sorry if thats hard to read or hear.
Is he talented? Certainly.
Is he “ready for prime time”? Certainly not, especially in terms of ranking and drawing power.
As I’ve previously posted, and as the man himself has said multiple times before, Franklin is looking for fights that get him in line for a title shot. Beating Luiz Cane doesn’t do that because Cane for all intents and purposes is a no-name. Losing to Cane would be a disaster to Franklin’s LHW run.
So what possible motivation is there for Franklin to respond to Cane’s “calling out?” and take a fight with him??
Answer – money.
I’m guessing the reason that Franklin’s opponent is “to-be-announced” is because Franklin has zero motivation to fight Cane, and Chuck Liddell wisely decided to take an extended holiday, or early retirement, depending on how you look at it. Franklin-Liddell, in spite of being an example of irresonsible matchmaking, was definitely a main event-caliber fight.
I’m also assuming that Joe Silva, Dana White, or whoever makes these calls is trying to convince Franklin to fight Cane if a replacement can’t be found. If I were Franklin I would insist on 2 things before stepping into the cage with a fighter so out of my league.
1) a contractually stipulated title shot in my next fight if I win, and
2) a SIGNIFICANT up-front bonus paid to Franklin for taking the fight regardless of outcome, and for “helping out” the UFC again, as he did in a catchweight bout with Wanderlei Silva.
Fighting Silva was risky for a fighter at Franklin’s level, Silva was capable of KTFO’s Franklin, and making his path to the LHW title that much harder. Silva was transitioning, so his loss wasn’t nearly as detrimental to his career.
Plus, he’s Wanderlei Silva. ‘Nuff said.
Ultimately this card will be viewed as a success or failure in Texas by the UFC’s ability to deliver a silver star main event. Clearly Franklin-Cane isn’t it. Clearly Franklin-Liddell is off of the table.
A great option, although Dana White would almost certainly not sign off on it, is a Tito Ortiz return in Texas to the UFC, and in a fight with Rich Franklin.
If Ortiz is in any sort of shape, it could be a good fight. Ortiz has the “name” drawing power to silence even the harshest Texas critics of 103, and the “surprise factor” would generate a lot of interest, which incidentally generates money, which the UFC and Dana White have proven time and again they are all about.
If White is willing to reach out to Ortiz, patch things up and work something out, the Texas fans would get their just due, and the rest of us would get in all likelihood a solid PPV main event.
I know the name of Tito Ortiz will make a lot of you reading this think, “this jcohl dude is drinking and posting, or is just plain nuts”, but all I ask is that you think about it for a second. Ortiz draws money, has relative talent, experience, a small but loyal fanbase, and the perfect personality for the stoic Franklin to play off of.
Also, Ortiz still has IMO a few good fights left in him, so why shouldn’t the UFC get those fights, instead of some Indian reservation or Japanese pro wrestling promoter?
This could work, but the question is, Mr White, what are you prepared to do in order to do whats right by the fans of Texas, and by extension the rest of us??
Good stuff man. You had to of noticed that I mentioned Oritz coming back and fighting Franklin 3 days ago(you even replied to it). It would be a great fight for both the sport and the UFC. Plus make a contender out of the winner.
Absolutely, carls. A Franklin-Ortiz winner could easily make the case for LHW title contention.
Apologies to you if my above post makes it sound like it’s my own matchmaking stroke of genius, which most certainly is not.
carls several days ago first put Ortiz’s name out there as a sort of “save” for the UFC 103 main event on another thread, just for the record..
I incorporated it into my post because it was such a good idea…good for the event, good for the UFC and its fans, and good for the sport for Ortiz to work his final matches in fron tof the largest audiences possible…
Thanks man. By the way you completely ran with it and actually made it believable. I just put it out there. Quite the team.
Ortiz was reportedly banned from the Fan Expo, just an FYI.
LOL you guys really want to see Ortiz fight Machida again.. man.. It would be the first time a title fight put me to sleep I’m sure.. oh wait. there was Silva Maia earlier this year.. that was a snooze fest too.
Ortiz cannot beat Machida. Period. He landed a kick in three rounds.. good on ya.. Machida is too far outside Ortiz skill bracket for that to be remotely interesting.