It's official: Sherk is clean

Following some confusion over the recent drug test results of former Ultimate Fighting Championship lightweight titleholder Sean Sherk in Nevada, the official results are in. Keith Kizer, the executive director of the Nevada State Athletic Commission, told MMAWeekly.com on Tuesday via email, "The NSAC received Mr. Sherk's steroid and drug test results this morning and they were all negative."

Initial reports last week had stated that Sherk had already been cleared as part of Nevada's new out-of-competition testing process. Kizer on Friday, however, notified MMAWeekly.com that, "Mr. Sherk was tested as a condition of licensure. We have not yet received the results of that test, the sample for which was given on or about April 22, 2008."

The negative result confirms that Sherk has been cleared for licensure and will be able to challenge B.J. Penn, the current UFC lightweight champion, on May 24 in the main event of UFC 84 in Las Vegas.

Sherk was suspended in California for failing a drug test following his victory over Hermes Franca on July 7 in Sacramento. He was subsequently stripped of the title. As of April 14, he fulfilled the terms of his suspension in California and was removed from the active suspension list.

As previously reported, Penn was tested by Nevada as part of the new out-of-competition procedure. His test results came back negative on April 23 according to Kizer.

Former UFC light heavyweight champion Tito Ortiz was also drug tested recently and returned negative results. Kizer indicated that the commission also intends to test Ortiz's opponent, Lyoto Machida.