On May 24th Sean Sherk (32-2-1) will step into the Octagon after 10 months to try and regain his title from BJ Penn (12-4-1) at UFC 84: Ill Will.

For those of you that may be new to the UFC or MMA in general: Sean Sherk was the former lightweight champion. However, after his successful title defense against Hermes Franca, lab tests came back positive for steroids.

Sherk has maintained his innocence throughout the entire ordeal and is now on track to prove to the world that he deserves the belt.

Some people might be familiar with my article "UFC: Sean Sherk Doesn't Deserve A Title Shot... At Least, Not Yet". So it is safe say that there was a little trepidation about getting the chance to interview the champ at his training facility Minnesota Mixed Martial Arts Academy. It was actually the first time that I was hoping someone hadn't read an article of mine.

Sitting down with Sean for the interview (which can be see at this link at fighters.com) there was no indication that he had read the article, or perhaps he didn't care. Either way, I wasn't there to bring up my initial sentiments. I was there to interview a former champ that was cool enough to sit down with me.

At 1:30pm Sean had already gotten up, gotten his kids ready for school, prepared all his meals for the day, rolled for an hour with fellow Academy members (including BoDog welterweight champ Nick "The Goat" Thompson and WEC fighter Brock Larson) and done a half hour of speed bag work.

Frankly, I wasn't sure what to expect from Sean. Though he stands only about 5'6", it is solid muscle. At a week out from the fight I just can't imagine there is that much more weight he could loss. Something about being able to see the veins in the chest of the person you are interviewing is intimidating.

However, Sean was very open with the interview. I wasn't interested in the steroid allegations. Frankly, I just don't care anymore. He is getting a second chance and if he didn't deserve it, I really don't think that Dana White is that hard pressed to find lightweight contenders.

I was actually more interested in his feelings about the upcoming fight and his opponent BJ Penn.

Without actually giving the interview word for word I can say this much, Sean just wants to get back to fighting. He has been a professional fighter for about 9 years and a wrestler since he was 7. Combat sports is what he knows and what he loves. His only two losses are against arguably the greatest welterweights (lest we forget that Sean is a lightweight) of all time: Georges St.Pierre and Matt Hughes.

And this fight is really about anticipation. Partially for Sean to get back into the Octagon, partially for his to finally fight BJ Penn, but also to really see who the best UFC lightweight is. There are arguably better lightweights in the world, but these two are at the top in the UFC.

MMA fans have seen Sherk walk through some of the most vicious offenses in the game. He is one of few people to endure Kenny Florian's elbows and he is the only fighter to go all five rounds against Matt Hughes.

And there is BJ Penn. With a name like "The Prodigy" he can't be a slouch. His jiu-jitsu is incredible and his stand-up has vastly improved. The real question is his conditioning. Can BJ really weather Sean for five rounds?

All of BJ's losses have come in the 3rd round or later. And Sean Sherk has gone gone the distance and won his last three fights.

So, what was it like to interview Sean Sherk? I suppose it was like interviewing anyone else. He was cool enough to grant the interview despite being a week out from one of the biggest fights of his life, to a guy I'm sure he's never heard of.

And while I have my trepidations about his getting an automatic title shot, that really isn't for me to decide. However, it does make me wonder, should he lose, will it be because he didn't take a warm-up fight?

Oh yeah, and did I mention that the interview can be found here at fighters.com?