Dunham Flies Under Radar Toward Title Contention

When mixed martial arts fans talk about the top contenders to Frankie Edgar's 155-pound championship, several names come up, including B.J. Penn, Gray Maynard, Kenny Florian and George Sotiropoulos.

Another name that should be thrown into the mix is unbeaten prospect Evan Dunham, who takes on Sean Sherk in a main-card fight at UFC 119 Sept. 25 in Indianapolis. However, if Dunham had his way, he'd remain anonymous.

"I haven't noticed a whole, whole lot (of attention following his June split-decision win over Tyson Griffin at UFC 115)," said Dunham during an appearance on the Sherdog Radio Network's "Beatdown" show Wednesday. "I'm kind of good at flying under the radar, which I don't know if that's a bad or a good thing. I've been flying under the radar pretty good, but that's OK with me. They've been lining me up with better and better guys each fight and to excel in this sport, that's what you have to do. You have to fight tougher and tougher guys each time you win. I can't really tell you (why people haven't been talking about him as a contender). But I'm not too worried about it. As long as the right people take notice, I'm not concerned about it."

Dunham, a Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt who trains out of Xtreme Couture in Las Vegas, is 4-0 during his stint in the UFC. Following a first-round knockout of Per Eklund at UFC 85 in February 2009, the 28-year-old Dunham picked up a split-decision win over Marcus Aurelio at UFC 102 in August 2009. In his last appearance before the Griffin fight, Dunham armbarred "The Ultimate Fighter" Season 8 winner Efrain Escudero in the third round at UFC Fight Night 20 in January.

The next step in Dunham's climb up the lightweight ladder comes in the form of former lightweight champion Sherk. The 37-year-old Minnesotan has been sidelined for the past 16 months due to various injuries, but he still holds wins over Karo Parisyan (twice), Manny Gamburyan, Benji Radach, current Strikeforce 170-pound champion Nick Diaz, Florian, Hermes Franca and Griffin.

"I've been watching (Sherk) fight since before I even started in this sport 10-plus years ago, before I even started doing jiu-jitsu or anything," said Dunham, who has eight finishes (two knockouts, six submissions) among his 11 wins. "So, just to fight him is a feather in my cap. It's an honor to fight him. I look up to the guy like anybody who's ever been a former champ like that. I'm not taking him lightly. He's been out for 14 months or something like that, but I've been training for the best Sherk that we've seen so far. I'm taking it really, really seriously and I'm not going to back down from anybody. I'm going to bring the fight to him and I plan on coming out of there with my hand raised."

Sherk's last appearance in the Octagon was a unanimous decision defeat to Edgar at UFC 98 in May 2009. He was forced to drop out of fights against Gleison Tibau at UFC 104 in October 2009 due to a right shoulder injury, Jim Miller at UFC 108 in January because of a cut on his forehead and Clay Guida at UFC on Versus 1 in March after an undisclosed injury lingered and affected his training.

"(Sherk) has been around long enough that I'm sure he wasn't completely out of the gym like people make it sound," said Dunham. "If anything, I'm sure he took the time to work on the gaps that he wanted to fill in, so I expect him to come back just as hard as he would if he'd had a four-month layoff. Whether it affects him or not, I'm just going to fight him like any other guy who's been consistently fighting."

A win over Sherk would propel Dunham even closer to a shot at the lightweight title, but title shots aren't something Dunham is worried about just yet.

"I've got one thing to do and one thing only, and that's win September 25," said Dunham. "After that, I can think about the next step. All that other stuff is just in one ear and out the other. However, it's an honor to be considered to be in that position. It's a cool thing, but I'm not taking any time to think about that stuff. Dealing with Sherk is enough to keep me occupied. I figure if you're working hard enough in the gym, your brain doesn't have time to wander and that's exactly what I do. I go in there and work my ass off. All I have time for is to work out, eat and sleep and that's it."

UFC 119 is headlined by a heavyweight bout pitting former UFC champion Frank Mir against Pride standout Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic and a light heavyweight contest featuring Antonio Rogerio Nogueira versus undefeated "The Ultimate Fighter" Season 8 winner Ryan Bader.