It’s always easy to tell when crowd reactions get to a fighter. You could see the hurt in Sean Sherk’s eyes when he was booed out of the arena at UFC 80 when he confronted BJ Penn in the octagon.
At UFC 84, instead of trying to break BJ’s cardio with his wrestling, Sherk chose to stand and trade. Some speculated he did this because he figured he couldn’t take BJ down, but I don’t buy that at all. He did it because he wanted to make the fight exciting. I think he’s trying to win fans back over to his side, and as a result he’s limiting himself.
In a Sherdog interview today Sherk gave me the impression his primary goal at UFC 98 is to have an exciting fight, not to win:
My last fight with Tyson [Griffin] was real exciting. We got “Fight of the Night.” I think my fight with Frankie is going to be real exciting. I think — assuming I do pull the win off in two fast-paced, exciting fights — that the fans would be excited for Penn and Sherk 2.
Most people pick Sherk to beat Edgar because he has the advantage in the size, strength, and cardio departments. If it turns into a wrestling match, it’s hard to see how Edgar can pull it off. However, if Sherk is happy to stand and trade, this fight is a tossup.