Sherk Overwhelms Franca for Title

Sean Sherk could have folded like several recent title holders before him in recent bouts.

It could have been over when he could barely breathe while in a guillotine hold only 30 seconds into the bout. Or when he took a vicious knee to the face in the first five seconds of the second round that sent him tumbling to the mat, face-first.

But each time, Sherk showed the relentlessness that made him the Ultimate Fighting Championship lightweight title holder nearly eight months ago.

Other than the several big shots, Sherk dictated the pace of last night's fight in UFC 73 in Sacramento, overwhelming Hermes Franca in a unanimous decision.

Sherk (36-2-1) walked away from mixed martial arts to go into the flooring business after the birth of his first child because he had trouble finding fights and could not make enough income in the sport. After the UFC became more popular, Sherk returned to the octagon and eventually won the title by defeating Kenny Florian in UFC 64.

"I've been through a roller-coaster ride in my career," Sherk said. "The knee that he landed in the second round was hard. . . . That has never happened to me. But as a competitor and fighter, my instincts kicked in."

After loads of trash talk, light heavyweights Tito Ortiz and Rashad Evans fought to a rare draw. Ortiz (16-5-1) was penalized a point because he grabbed the fence as he was being taken down in the second round, resulting in the eventual split after he took the first round and Evans (15-0-1) took the third.

"As they say, if you ain't cheating, you're not trying," Ortiz said in a TV interview afterward.

Anderson Silva (19-4) defended his middleweight championship with a punch to the face of Nathan Marquardt (25-7) as he was on his back with nine seconds remaining in the first round. Silva has won four of his last five fights in the first round by knockout.

In his much anticipated UFC debut, heavyweight Antonio Rodrigo "Minotauro" Nogueira defeated Heath Herring by unanimous decision, 29-28.

After being dominated throughout the first round, Herring (27-13) knocked Nogueira (30-4-1) stiff on his back with a left leg kick to the face near the end of the round, but did not finish the bout partly because the referee allowed Nogueira to stand up.