The Past and Future 03.23.09: Jake Shields
Posted by Robert Steele on 03.23.2009
“EliteXC was going in too many directions at once.” A profile of highly ranked welterweight, Jake Shields. Plus, Shields discusses his move to Strikeforce, his win over Nick Thompson, his upcoming fight with Robbie Lawler, and more.
Shields is one of the most decorated welterweights who has never been a part of UFC. He is a former Shooto Middleweight Champion, Rumble on the Rock Welterweight Champion, and the only ever EliteXC Welterweight Champion.
The Past
Jake's wrestling background is the at the root of his MMA career. "I started wrestling when I was about nine years old," he said. "I wrestled in high school and through college and I still do some tournaments for submission grappling." At Cuesta College he became a two time All-American. "There's a lot of good memories, but going on the road trips and making life-long friends are the best parts," he said of his amateur career.
Wrestling soon brought him even closer to MMA. Jake describes his eventual transition to MMA:
"I was in San Luis Obispo on a wrestling scholarship. I met Chuck Liddell around the end of my second year and started working out at his gym. Two weeks after I started training, I went with one of the pros to a fight. The promoter came back looking for someone to fight at 185lbs and I said I would. I won that fight with wrestling-ground and pound. At first I was just doing it for fun and to learn some self-defence. I was just fighting at my walk-around weight. After five fights in eight months I was hooked…. I started training seriously and went down to my natural weight of 170lbs."
Most of Jake's losses come from the early part of his MMA career. Shields had a 10-3-1 before fighting Ray Cooper in Hawaii for the vacant Shooto Middleweight Championship. He would go on to win by rear naked choke, but get defeated in his first title defence by Akira Kikuchi.
It would be his last loss to date. Since then he has won 11 straight professional MMA fights, with wins over such names as Yushin Okami and Carlos Condit. He also lists grappling and submission tournament wins over Diego Sanchez and Jon Fitch.
In 2007 Shields joined EliteXC, with his first fight for the promotion against Renato Verissimo. He would go on to win with a first round victory. His next fight against Mike Pyle he would do the same, doing enough to earn him a title fight.
Shields became the first and only EliteXC champion by defeating Nick Thompson in just over a minute. On his preparation leading to the quick victory he said:
"I trained the same as always, but I had noticed when looking at his videos that he tended to keep his head up during the scrambles; so I had practiced that move. But I didn't expect [the win] to come so early. Nick is a great fighter and I was prepared to go the distance, but I'm always looking for the finish."
The thin EliteXC roster created some issues for Jake and other fighters. He had to consider many times fighting at middleweight. He indicated he doesn't mind moving up in weight, but that 170-175lbs is the weight where he feels more natural.
With the near collapse of ProElite, and its selling of certain assets to Strikeforce, Shields has been given the opportunity expand his career. "I'm glad to be with Strikeforce," he said. "They're a real MMA fight company. They've been around awhile. EliteXC was going in too many directions at once. There were some good people working for them, and being on Showtime and CBS was good for my career, but I think Strikeforce will make better MMA decisions."
In May, Shields will headline against former EliteXC Middleweight champion Robbie Lawler, at a Strikeforce event that is still to be confirmed. The fight is slated at a catch-weight of 182lbs.
The Future
Shields and Lawler should be a good fight and it makes for a good main event on a Strikeforce card. This, however, also indicates that it is a bit of an issue finding suitable welterweight opponents for Shields. As of 411's most recent welterweight rankings, Shields was the only of the top 13 not in UFC. Nick Diaz was ranked 15, and he would be Shields' top contender. Diaz will also be fighting at a catch-weight in his next fight against Frank Shamrock.
Strikeforce will need to either build new welterweights or poach some UFC top contenders by throwing some big money at them. Otherwise, after Shields fights Diaz, there is not much room for the winner unless they move up in weight.
The fight against Lawler is sort of a no lose situation for Shields. He is moving up in weight, so a loss should not impact his welterweight ranking.
The consensus on the predicted outcome of this fight is fairly even. In theory it should not go to the judges since you have a superior striker in Lawler and a superior submission specialist in Shields. Lawler has looked impressive lately with some vicious KOs. But Shields does have superior Brazilian jiu-jitsu, an earned black belt, which could prove deadly to Lawler who has been susceptible to submission in the past. "Robbie's one of the best at 185lbs," Shields said. "I have to be prepared for a full-on battle. I'm excited about the fight and I'll be ready."
If both Diaz and Shields win their respective fights, it would stand to reason that they would fight each other next, sometime likely in the fall. From there it is a matter of what Strikeforce wants to do with their welterweights.
