This Month’s MMA Birthdays: Sean Sherk Turns 45

He belongs to an exclusive group as one of only 10 men who have captured the undisputed Ultimate Fighting Championship lightweight title. Sean Sherk will celebrate his 45th birthday on Aug. 5.

An accomplished amateur wrestler, Sherk undertook training under Greg Nelson at the Minnesota Martial Arts Academy, made his professional MMA debut in June 1999 and remained unbeaten through 20 bouts (19-0-1) -- a run that included victories over Karo Parisyan, Manny Gamburyan and Benji Radach. Matt Hughes interrupted his rise at UFC 42, denying the St. Francis, Minnesota, native’s bid for the welterweight championship. Sherk was undeterred. “The Muscle Shark” went on to win 13 of his next 14 fights and squared off with Kenny Florian for the vacant lightweight crown at UFC 64, where he walked away with a unanimous decision. Sherk made one successful title defense against Hermes Franca before being stripped over a positive PED test and later failed to reclaim the belt in a technical knockout loss to B.J. Penn at UFC 84. He announced his retirement in 2013, having compiled a stellar 36-4-1 record. All four of Sherk’s defeats came to former UFC champions: Hughes, Penn, Georges St. Pierre and Frankie Edgar.

Others in MMA celebrating a birthday during the month of August:

AUG. 1

Jason Von Flue, 43
Dominic Clark, 33
Gegard Mousasi, 33
Jenel Lausa, 30
David Zawada, 29
Ricardo Lucas Ramos, 23

AUG. 2

Krzysztof Soszynski, 41
Jeff Hougland, 40
John Kelly, 40
Ivan Musardo, 38
Aleksander Emelianenko, 37
Nick Diaz, 35
Zak Cummings, 34
Magomed Mustafaev, 30

AUG. 3

Eric Esch, 52
Johnny Eduardo, 40
Carey Vanier, 37
Aleksandar Radosavljevic, 35
Neil Magny, 31
Amanda Bell, 30
Ben Nguyen, 30

AUG. 4

Dhafir Harris, 41
Duane Ludwig, 40
Mitsuhisa Sunabe, 39
Iuri Alcantara, 38
Bernardo Magalhaes, 37
Joe Duarte, 35
Bryan Caraway, 34
Jared Rosholt, 32
Oluwale Bamgbose, 31
Jonathan Meunier, 31
Paul Sass, 30
Ray Borg, 25

AUG. 5

Sean Sherk, 45
Dmitry Smoliakov, 36
Lissette Neri, 31
Dustin Pague, 31
Mladen Kujundzic, 29

AUG. 6

Sean Gray, 45
Igor Vovchanchyn, 45
Patrick Mikesz, 44
Tracy Hess, 41
Chris Beal, 33
Daniel Pineda, 33
Minoru Takeuchi, 33

AUG. 7

Brian Gassaway, 46
Edwin Dewees, 36
Henry Martinez, 35
Demi Deeds, 34
Martin Begley, 33

AUG. 8

Yusuke Imamura, 42
Shayna Baszler, 38
Benny Madrid, 38
Damir Hadzovic, 32
Damon Jackson, 30
Mairbek Taisumov, 30

AUG. 9

Kerry Schall, 47
Kyle Watson, 39
Cary Bullos, 35
C.J. Keith, 32
Alexa Grasso, 25

AUG. 10

Kevin Randleman, 1971-2016
C.B. Dollaway, 35
Randa Markos, 33
Joe Proctor, 33
Oliver Enkamp, 27

AUG. 11

Joe Rogan, 51
Chase Gormley, 35
Abdul Razak Alhassan, 33
Henry Corrales, 32
Ev Ting, 29
Emmanuel Sanchez, 28

AUG. 12

Frankie Saenz, 38
Pearl Gonzalez, 32
Norma Rueda Center, 31
Baysangur Vakhitov, 27
Changxin Fu, 26

AUG. 13

Solomon Hutcherson, 46
Nik Lentz, 34
Jonathan Brookins, 33
Russell Doane, 32
Demetrious Johnson, 32
Ronys Torres, 32
Joe Gigliotti, 25

AUG. 14

Derrick Noble, 40
Ricardo Funch, 38
Brylan Van Artsdalen, 34
Mark Holst, 33
Colton Smith, 31

AUG. 15

Jason Black, 46
Katsuhisa Fujii, 46
Marcus Jones, 45
Moyses Gabin, 38
Valmir Lazaro, 33
Andy Enz, 27

AUG. 16

Rulon Gardner, 47
Hiroya Takada, 41
Mickael Lebout, 31
Tecia Torres, 29
Joe Madrid, 28

AUG. 17

Masaaki Satake, 53
Carlos Newton, 42
Valentijn Overeem, 42
Leslie Smith, 36
Richie Smullen, 27

AUG. 18

Chris Lytle, 44
Chad Robichaux, 43
Sergei Kharitonov, 38
Geronimo dos Santos, 38
Sachiko Yamamoto, 38
Guy Delumeau, 37
Josh Tyler, 35
Gian Villante, 33
Miesha Tate, 32
Joanna Jedrzejczyk, 31
Sergio Pettis, 25
Agilan Thani, 23

AUG. 19

Ricco Rodriguez, 41
Kyle Bradley, 36
Stipe Miocic, 36
Krzysztof Jotko, 29
Julianna Pena, 29
Mizuki Inoue, 24
Jake Matthews, 24

AUG. 20

Tom Speer, 34
Sheldon Westcott, 34
Billy Giovanella, 33
Elizabeth Phillips, 32
Gleristone Santos, 30

AUG. 21

Alex Reid, 43
Dave Jansen, 39
Daniel Sarafian, 36
Zachary Micklewright, 32
Shoko Sato, 31
Luis Henrique Barbosa de Oliveira, 25

AUG. 22

Hideo Tokoro, 41
Pat Runez, 39
Ryan Janes, 37
Justin Buchholz, 35
Magomed Bibulatov, 30
Niklas Backstrom, 29
Dillon Danis, 25
Joseph Morales, 24
Nasrat Haqparast, 23

AUG. 23

Brock Larson, 41
Damien Trites, 39
Scott McAfee, 35
Robert Watley, 29
Andrey Koreshkov, 28

AUG. 24

James Toney, 50
Dan Henderson, 48
Trevor Prangley, 46
Dong Sik Yoon, 46
Marcus Davis, 45
Hayato Sakurai, 43
Francisco Trinaldo, 40
Charles Rosa, 32
Jake Heun, 31

AUG. 25

Jeremy Horn, 43
Danny Castillo, 39
Mark Holata, 36
Piotr Hallmann, 31
Ryan Benoit, 29
Leon Edwards, 27

AUG. 26

Erik Apple, 41
Paul Barrow, 33
Lance Benoist, 30
Ketlen Vieira, 27
Amanda Ribas, 25

AUG. 27

Hermes Franca, 44
Amir Sadollah, 38
Lew Polley, 37
Ryan Couture, 36
Shahbulat Shamhalaev, 35

AUG. 28

Deividas Taurosevicius, 41
Anthony Ferguson, 38
Karo Parisyan, 36
Louis Gaudinot, 34
Rick Story, 34
Jon Tuck, 34

AUG. 29

George Kleber, 41
Gabe Ruediger, 41
Vinicius Kappke de Queiroz, 35
Kelly Anundson, 34
Kassius Holdorf, 32

AUG. 30

Eric Prindle, 42
Barb Honchak, 39
Cole Escovedo, 37
Joe Brammer, 35
Jim Miller, 35

AUG. 31

Ido Pariente, 40
Daniel Omielanczuk, 36
Pat Curran, 31
Alexis Dufresne, 28
Ricky Simon, 26
Mark De La Rosa, 24