“… I know there are a lot of people out there doing steroids, cheating and every time I run into one of them, I’m going to call them on it and then I’m going to beat the shit out of them.… It’s going to be a historic night because all the kids out there will realize that you can do it with just hard work alone … he wants to say he has heart and all this different shit, but you can’t confuse steroids with heart…. It’s two different things, a guy with heart is a guy doing it with blood, sweat and tears, waking up with the sore back, the sore body..… What would happen in the old days when you get caught with a couple of aces up your sleeve, they kill the guy right there and that’s why I say Sean Sherk is dead….”

– UFC Lightweight Champion, BJ Penn

“I think he needs to talk to a psychiatrist. That sounds pretty sick to me, but good luck. I’m sure there will be blood, both mine and his, so we’ll see what happens. I don’t know, that’s kind of a weird thing to say and I did hear that he said that. I was like, ‘What the hell is he talking about?’ What can you say. He’s got some issues, but I’m not going to let anything he says bother me.”

– Former UFC lightweight champion, Sean Sherk

In this week’s edition of the Friday Night Throwdown, it’s the final part of a three-part series that covers UFC 84: “Ill Will” at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, on May 24.

And we’ve saved the best for last.

Of course, we’re finally going to touch on the main event of the evening and preview the UFC lightweight title fight between division champion, BJ Penn, and former 155-pound beltkeeper, Sean Sherk.

It’s no secret that these two men don’t like each other –- check out the war of words at the top of this column for proof of that. For weeks fans and others have referred to this showdown as a grudge match.

I see it more as war … let the games begin.

A chance for redemption for Sherk

We all know the story about Sean Sherk and how he got to this point as a challenger and not as a champion. In case you don’t, a quick summary would be this: defends title, post fight drug test comes up positive for steroids, suspended and then stripped of his belt.

Sherk has maintained his innocence since the moment the test results came back from the California State Athletic Commission (CSAC) back in July 2007. In fact, he mounted a significant defense, which included polygraph tests, testimony, independent re-tests and a whole bunch of finger pointing.

Yet in the end, it didn’t matter.

The only positive thing to come out of everything for Sherk was his appeal with the CSAC that reduced his suspension to only six months and $2,500 fine.

Fan backlash since the news broke has been swift and harsh — similar to that of other sports stars such as Roger Clemens and Barry Bonds who are also embroiled in public scandals.

In spite of all this, the UFC has remained steadfast in its belief in Sherk. And has awarded him with another chance for the gold, putting him at the front of the line to be the first person to challenge Penn for the vacant title for which he defeated Joe Stevenson back in January.

Now here we are, Sherk — who is five months removed from the suspension — is headlining one of the better UFC cards of the year.

“The Muscle Shark” may still have that positive test hover over him for the rest of his career, but he will get the opportunity to show everyone that he is the rightful lightweight champion in little more than one week.

It should be a chance that has driven Sherk to train like never before (if that’s possible). Sherk has all the tools to be a long-time reigning champion (when he’s clean) because of his world class wrestling, decent striking and amazing cardio.

In addition, he knows he has to be ready for anything and everything when it comes to fighting Penn.

Sherk has stated in several interviews leading up to the bout that when Penn is losing a fight, his will is broken and he gives up. His example was Penn’s fight with Matt Hughes, yet at the same time … Penn was winning the fight but sustained serious rib damage!

Anyway you look at it this fight will determine who is the clear cut number one lightweight in the organization and quite possibly in the world. Why wouldn’t Sherk come into this fight in the best shape? A win over Penn silences critics for the time being. All joking aside next Saturday could be a day of redemption for Sean Sherk … look for him to be at his best.

BJ Penn: Time to put up or shut up

At UFC 80, we saw the BJ Penn who truly lived up to the moniker of “The Prodigy” in dismantling Stevenson rather easily in two rounds. It was at the same event he unleashed the “you’re dead!” post-fight remark toward Sherk that started the war of words between the two.

Now it’s time for Penn to back up those remarks when he faces Sherk next Saturday night.

Penn and Sherk share two common opponents: Matt Hughes and Georges St. Pierre. Penn went 1-2 against the two whereas Sherk went 0-2; however, you can argue that Penn could’ve won all three of the fights that he lost.

In fact, he won the first round of his battle with St. Pierre at UFC 58 big time and the third round depending on who you ask (just not two of the three judges sitting ringside. On the other hand, Sherk was manhandled by St. Pierre in their fight and stopped for the first time in his career.

Penn had a split with one of his other rivals in Hughes, whereas Sherk was outwrestled for five rounds against the same man. Now granted Sherk was considered a small welterweight but he was gritty and tough against both GSP and Hughes. With Penn, no matter what weight class, he has all the skills to hang with anyone.

The man fought Lyoto Machida as a light heavyweight for crying out loud! And not only did he hang with Machida, but he was not in trouble at anytime during the fight, which eventually went to a decision. That alone shows how talented and truly special BJ Penn really is.

Penn now realizes that to be a champion, you have to train like one. And once he realized that, he became the best BJ Penn we’ve seen in quite some time.

In regard to this fight, everyone knows by now if there is one Achilles heel for Penn it is his questionable cardio. In his fights with Hughes and St. Pierre he started strong only to fade as the fights wore on. One also has to think about the post fight interview after he defeated Stevenson — he was barely able to stand.

Perhaps it was just elation or mind games for Sherk to think hard about. But it’s something to be concerned about heading into this fight.

We all know that Sherk could go 10 rounds if he wanted to, but we can’t say the same for Penn. If the fight goes past the second round, we’ll have to see if Penn is truly in the best shape of his career. If he’s fresh in the third and fourth rounds like he was in the first, Penn could win this fight quite easily.

Between the two, only Penn is the more likely fighter to end the fight at any point. Sherk will just lay on you for five rounds with his grappling and rabbit punches.

For Penn, a win here secures his legacy as one of the best and most complete fighters on the planet. With Takanori Gomi fighting cans in Japan, the best lightweight in the world will clearly be Penn (although Shinya Aoki might have something to say about that).

You’ve got to remember now that Penn decimated Gomi in Hawaii a few years back. A win here also could lead to a possible rematch with St. Pierre down the line — a fight in which I give Penn a slight edge at this point.

At the end of the day, this all depends if the real BJ Penn shows up next Saturday night. If we get the Penn who gassed in the big fights (not likely), Sherk will lay on him for five rounds and take the decision. If we get the BJ Penn that ran through Jens Pulver and Joe Stevenson en route to his second UFC belt, then all you have to do is pick the round and whether he finishes the fight via technical knockout, submission or decision against Sherk.

All in all, it’s going to be quite the spectacle in the main event of the evening. So who do you got?

MMA news and other notes

Affliction: “Banned” card finally revealed — I’ve got to say that the card is quite solid even if Andrei Arlovski ends up not signing with Affliction next week and fighting Ben Rothwell on the July 19 debut show. You’ve got Josh Barnett vs. Pedro Rizzo II (which Barnett should win easily), Matt Lindland vs. Fabio Negao and the main event of Fedor Emelianenko vs. Tim Sylvia.

Even though the card looks juicy, I’m unsure if I’m going to watch this pay-per-view (PPV) — I might wait for the following day to see the fights. The thing that irks me is that Fedor is not a big draw in the United States even if he’s fighting Big Tim. If I’m correct, his fight with Lindland a year ago only did a reported 55,000 buys on PPV. It would take a miracle for this card to get at least 200,000 buys, which is the reason I only hope that HDNet will show the replay or be able to show the event live.

Elite XC wants Tito Ortiz — Surprised? Not even. Elite XC is the safest place to go if you’re a free agent with the popularity that a guy like Ortiz has. The fights he could have there could be quite interesting — a rematch with Frank Shamrock, a huge payday in fighting Kimbo or even fighting Cung Le at a catchweight, are all money-making and marketable possibilities.

The key in all this is that Elite XC has the CBS deal – massive exposure for an exposure-hungry guy like Ortiz.

If Ortiz wants to be champion again, then Elite XC is the place to go. The UFC light heavyweight division is stacked and even with a win over Machida next weekend, he’s looking at Wanderlei Silva, Keith Jardine, Mauricio “Shogun” Rua and Chuck Liddell as possible opponents before a crack at Rampage Jackson (who also just so happens to be a good friend of Ortiz).

All it takes is one fight in Elite XC and he’ll more than likely get a title shot. Without question, there will be some intrigue next weekend should Ortiz get by Machida.

The lightweight DREAM tournament is living up to the hype — I’m loving this tournament right now, and not because my boy from my hometown of Philadelphia, Eddie Alvarez, is still alive, but because we’re getting some great fights. Alvarez-Hansen has to be considered a “Fight of the Year” candidate because that fight was even after two rounds. I had Alvarez winning the first and Hansen coming back strong in the second after getting rocked twice.

With Kawajiri and Uno advancing as well, the match up for the semifinals will be insane. I expect Shinya Aoki to be in the semis as well, so you could have Akoi-Alvarez and Kawajiri-Uno or even Kawajiri-Alvarez and Aoki-Uno. Either way this tournament could go down as one of the best ones in recent history. I would also put it up there with the 2005 PRIDE Middleweight Grand Prix and 2006 PRIDE Open Weight Grand Prix. The tournament is that good people.

As for Alvarez, he could be making his way toward everyone’s top 10 lightweight rankings. If he were to win this tournament … easily top five. He was a small welterweight and still was knocking folks out, but at lightweight the man is a monster. Great wrestling, and one punch knockout power in both hands, Eddie could make a big splash in the MMA world after this tournament.

Mir and Noguiera to coach The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) 8 — I’m getting sick and tired of the whole champion vs. challenger as coaches on TUF. You’re basically putting divisions on ice for a whole year. We basically had to wait a whole year for Serra and Hughes to get dismantled by GSP, and now the heavyweight division is on ice this time. The show is getting stale and the UFC has to do something because the ratings for this season of TUF are heading south.

That wraps things up this week on the Friday Night Throwdown. As always, if you agree or disagree with today’s column … you know the drill. Just write what you think in the comments section below. I appreciate everyone’s support (and criticism) on this great site.

Other than that, I’ll see you next week with my final thoughts of UFC 84 heading into next Saturday night’s great card of fights. But I will leave you with this one question as I go and please reply in the comment section as well:

If you’re Tito Ortiz, do you stay with the UFC or leave with Elite XC?

Until next time, I’ll see you guys right back here in the Throwdown! Feel free to email me with any questions, comments or story ideas to include in a future column right here.