The Sean Sherk Steroid Saga: A Former UFC Lightweight Champion's Fall from Grace

Sean “the Muscle Shark” Sherk returns to action May 24 in Las Vegas after a less-than-voluntary nine month layoff.

After defending his title on July 4, 2007 with a convincing decision win over Hermes Franca, the California State Athletic Commission (CSAC) suspended Sherk for testing positive for the steroid Nandrolone Metabolite.

Sherk’s opponent, Hermes Franca, also tested positive for steroids following the fight. He immediately accepted the ruling and apologized to his fans for taking Drostanolone, which he used in order to speed the healing process of an injured knee.

Within 24 hours of his suspension, Sherk filed an appeal with the CSAC, stating that he did not use any illegal substances and had never even heard of the Nandrolone Metabolite drug.

Both Sherk’s A and B samples tested for levels of 12ng/ml of nandrolone, which is an anabolic steroid naturally produced by the body. A normal adult will test for nandrolone at roughly 2ng/ml, while “an athlete with vigorous activity” could test with levels of up to 6ng/ml.

Because Sherk tested with almost double the levels of a normal athlete, we can make two guesses about what happened: Either he used the drug (knowingly or not) or he is a freak of nature (maybe he really is a walking, talking, wrestling Muscle Shark).

Based on Sherk’s well-documented, disgustingly difficult workout routine, one could believe that his increased levels of nandrolone are simply a result of hard work combined with a slight physical anomaly (similar to Lance Armstrong’s off the chart red blood call count).

Sherk has been battling the CSAC for seven months now through their court of appeals, the media, and the Internet. He recently stated that he will never fight in the state of California again due to the unprofessional manner in which they dealt with his case.

Sherk may have a point here. Leading up to his already once delayed hearing, Sherk’s lawyer, Howard Jacobs, submitted an evidence briefing to the head of the CSAC four days before the Tuesday hearing. This brief was evidently either not delivered to the other officials or not reviewed by them before the hearing.

This led to yet another delay of the hearing, which was now stretching into a five-month-long process. Sherk and his lawyer also found procedural gaps in the handling of his urine (pee-pee) sample between the athletic commission and Quest Diagnostics (pee-pee laboratory).

Jacobs and Sherk protested the inadmissibility of an independent polygraph test, which was administered and included in Jacob’s brief. The state of California does not allow polygraph tests to be used as evidence in criminal trials but allows them in other types of cases.

Following the Oct. 30 hearing Sherk stated, “I was confident coming in here that the facts would speak for themselves, but after today, I’m not so sure.”

One of the main issues Sherk has with the CSAC is their lack of rules and procedure.

“They just messed up the entire thing," he said. "And the whole time they basically told me, ‘Too bad. There's nothing you can do about it. We don't have rules, we don't have regulations, and we can do whatever we want.’ That's not a situation I'm ever going to let myself get put into again."

Through Sherk’s five-month battle with the CSAC, which reportedly cost him more than $20,000, “the Muscle Shark’s” suspension was reduced from 12 to six months, even though he brought more evidence before the commission than any athlete before him.

Needless to say, Sherk was not satisfied with the reduction of his suspension.

Sherk cannot contest the CSAC further, but he has implied his intention to take the athletic commission or Quest Diagnostics to court.

One tactic that Sherk has used to clear his name is to have all of his supplements tested by an independent laboratory. One supplement, Xyience Xtreme Joint Formula, tested positive for Nandrolone Metabolite. This finding is significant for two reasons, one of which is obvious and one not so obvious.

Firstly, steroids are banned substances. Evidently, Xyience including it in their products and sold it to unknowing customers (including Sean Sherk, thus giving credit to his innocence claim). Xyience could be held accountable for health problems, drug suspensions, and a host of other issues.

The second, and more interesting aspect of that discovery, is the fact that Lorenzo and Frank Fertitta, who are the major shareholders of Zuffa (the UFC’s parent company), own a major stake of Xyience through a number of dummy companies like Bevanda Magica and Zyen (which owns most of Xyience’s outstanding debt).

In essence, through UFC encouraged sponsorships, Sherk was given banned substances, which led to his suspension. You can’t blame Zuffa for not jumping to announce that they had a hand in bringing a product with steroids in it to the market, but they probably could have helped Sherk out a bit on this one.

Adding to Sherk's aggravation, he was stripped of the UFC Lightweight Championship leading up to UFC 80–Rapid Fire. Originally slated to be an interim title, BJ Penn defeated Joe “Daddy” Stevenson on Jan. 19 by rear naked choke to take the undisputed UFC Lightweight Championship.

Sherk will have his shot at redemption, however, when he takes on B.J. “the Prodigy” Penn at UFC 84 in Las Vegas on May 24. This fight is already heating up with Penn and Sherk exchanges words through the media.

In Penn’s UFC 80, post-fight interview, he stated confidently, “Sean Sherk, you’re dead.” Penn has also said in interviews that he doesn’t believe Sherk is a real champion and that “his UFC title is no more real than Marion Jones’ gold medals.”

Sherk responded, “He's attacking me personally. He's saying stuff about me that isn’t true. Yeah, it motivates me to train harder. I mean, I can't lose a fight to someone who is talking smack about me. That's just something I can't do, so I'm going to train my ass off and make sure I win this fight."

You have to feel for a guy like Sean Sherk. He battled his whole career fighting either in small shows (which pay as well as a Mexican sweatshop) because the UFC had no lightweight class, or as a 5-foot-6 welterweight inside the Octagon (his only career losses have come at welterweight to Matt Hughes and George St. Pierre).

When he finally makes a name for himself, the steroid drama blows and puts his career on hold.

Sherk has so vehemently denied using steroids that he has convinced many fans of his innocence, including myself. He could have easily asked for a reduced sentence, gotten six months, and never looked back, but instead he has poured a ton of effort and money to clear his name.

I, for one, have a newfound respect for “the Muscle Shark” for standing up for what he thought was right and not taking the easy way out.