LAS VEGAS – Chase Sherman knows what it’s like to have your contract terminated by the UFC, but now that he’s earned his way back to the promotion, “The Vanilla Gorilla” is going all in the second time around.
Sherman recently left his day job as a firefighter at the Gulfport Fire Department in his native Mississippi so that he can focus full-time on his fighting career, a move he weighed carefully before making.
“It was a really tough decision, but unfortunately, where I live, in Mississippi, I’m the only guy in the entire state in the UFC, so the bodies just really aren’t there to compete at this level, and I kind of learned that the first go round in the UFC,” Sherman told MMA Junkie at a Wednesday media day at the UFC Apex. “I can’t go train somewhere for two months and still be on with the department, and so they understood, you know, and I have a job whenever this is all said and done. But it’s 10 years into this, you know what I’m saying? I’m married to the game, man. This is my life, and I can always be a firefighter.”
With the responsibility of a full-time job relieved, Sherman went to Colorado’s famed Elevation Fight Team for his most recent training camp. He said the co-workers he left behind were nothing but supportive of his decision.
“I’ll have a job when I’m done, and those guys still support me,” Sherman said. “Half of them were like, ‘Dude, what the hell are you still doing here? Go. Go chase your dreams.”
Sherman (15-6 MMA, 3-5 UFC) will get a chance to show the results of his work on Saturday when he faces former UFC heavyweight champion Andrei Arlovski (30-20 MMA, 19-14 UFC) at UFC on ESPN 22, which airs live on ESPN from the UFC Apex following prelims on ESPN and ESPN+.
Sherman certainly isn’t getting an easy assignment in his first appearance since walking away from his day job. Arlovski stepped in on just one week’s notice and certainly provides a more high-profile opponent than was originally scheduled.
But Sherman said he’s not adding pressure to himself now that he’s made his decision. It might seem like he has to justify the choice, but Sherman doesn’t see it that way.
“I mean you would think, you know, but it kind of brings me peace when I know, like, ‘Hey, there’s no regrets,’” Sherman said. “I mean, like at the end of the day, if it works out, it works out. If it doesn’t, it doesn’t. At least I know i did everything I could to give myself the best shot, you know what I mean? And then I can live with that.”
The 31-year-old heavyweight will find out on Saturday if he performs better with a different preparation process, but Sherman said he doesn’t need to wait until then to know if he made the right call.
“I’m in a different state of mind, man,” Sherman said. “I’m telling everybody that, like, my mental is just, it’s different than it was before, you know? I was a scared kid the first go round, you know? I’ve been through it. Now I’m ready.
“I’m not concerned about the outcome of the fights. I’m out there to fully enjoy what I do, you know what I mean? And then let the cards fall where they fall.”
Chase Sherman left fire department to go all in on second UFC run: ‘There’s no regrets’