Sherk Eligible To Fight In January

According to information received from the CSAC, Sherk’s suspension has been reduced to six months, from one year. As is standard in suspensions, Sherk receives credit for time already served, which means he is eligible to return to mixed martial arts competition in January. (As reported by MMAJunkie.com)

Sherk, who defended his title with a unanimous-decision victory over Hermes Franca in July, tested positive for elevated testosterone levels and nandrolone, an anabolic steroid, during an event drug test. The event took place July 7 at ARCO Arena in Sacramento, Calif., and the California State Athletic Commission subsequently suspended Sherk one year and fined him $2,500.

Sherks’ original hearing was set for August. However, after securing the services of accomplished doping lawyer Howard Jacobs, Sherk was granted an extension for the appeal, which took place Oct. 31. However, key paperwork submitted by Jacobs was not distributed to commission members prior to the hearing, and the commission opted to delay the hearing an additional two weeks (to Nov. 13). The CSAC later announced an unspecified delay and a new date of Dec. 4 in early November.

At the time, Sherk called the CSAC behavior during the process “very unprofessional.“

As for Sherk’s title, UFC President Dana White recently told Yahoo! Sports that he was fed up with the CSAC’s handling of the appeal and that he wouldn’t strip the 34-year-old veteran fighter of the title regardless of the commission’s decision. However, last month, White said that he will “honor the commission’s decision” and strip Sherk of the title if the suspension is upheld. (It’s worth noting that the commission doesn’t have the power to strip a title; it can only issues suspensions and fines.)

With the committee’s decision, it is expected that Sherk will face the winner of a UFC 80 main event between B.J. Penn and Joe Stevenson which will award the winner the interim lightweight title.