Sherman had some legitimate prospect shine upon his UFC debut in
2016. “The Vanilla Gorilla” is a legitimate athlete with durability
and speed, but it quickly became apparent that he would need to
make some gains on defense to hang in the promotion for any length
of time. After a middling run, Sherman was released in 2018 and
pivoted to bareknuckle boxing along with some regional fights, then
got re-signed early on in the pandemic. The extra experience had
made Sherman a more diverse striker, but he was still plagued by
giving away most of his gains on defense. Even worse, there seemed
to consistently be a point where Sherman would lose faith in his
abilities and allow his opponent to take over the fight, which
reached a clear nadir after a first-round loss to Jake
Collier in January. The UFC released Sherman again in April,
but within days needed a late-replacement opponent for Alexander
Romanov. To his credit, Sherman parlayed the UFC’s needs into a
quick return on a new contract worth double the pay of his old
deal. Then came the fighting part, and after expectedly getting run
over by Romanov, Sherman attempts to find a win here. Vanderaa is
not a particularly inspiring fighter, but “The Mountain” is big and
durable, which is enough to scrape by in the heavyweight division.
A lot of his early career, as well as his contract-earning win over
Harry
Hunsucker on Dana White’s Contender Series, suggested
Vanderaa’s best approach would be to grind and smother his
opponents, but he's found his most success as a surprisingly deft
and willing striker able to outlast his opponents in some messy
brawls. Sherman should be able to land some punches on him, but
with Vanderaa being historically durable and his counterpart not
typically being a one-shot knockout artist, it seems inevitable
that Vanderaa will eventually wade through Sherman’s offense and
drag him into some deeper waters, at which point a win should come
shortly thereafter. The pick is Vanderaa via second-round
stoppage.
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