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Strikeforce’s firing of Jake Shields

By Zach Arnold | July 1, 2010

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I love the use of the term ‘release.’ I love even more the fact that Strikeforce, according to Dave Meltzer, tried to keep Jake Shields out of HP Pavilion from watching this past weekend’s MMA event.

But the cherry on top of the proverbial sundae is that for some reason the promotion simply didn’t let Jake Shields walk away to the UFC. No, you see, they ‘released him’ while negotiating with him during a bidding war with the UFC. Take note that it’s Jake Shields’ father who is quoted in the Sherdog article. Even on media leaks, Showtime and Strikeforce get outworked!

Sorry, Strikeforce & Showtime, but you can’t fire someone who already fired you (shamefully, I might add) when he showed up with Dana White at Arco Arena a week after beating your biggest free-agent signing. This kind of story is exactly the thing I talked about yesterday in my MMA Torch column that you should read if you haven’t already done so.

A passage from last night’s Observer radio show about the firing:

BRYAN ALVAREZ: “Jake Shields, FIRED today. You can’t quit, YOU’RE FIRED!”

DAVE MELTZER: “Yeah. Well, it was bound to happen. I mean, before he even left when they were already talking about the tournament, you know what I’m saying? I mean, you know, and I saw Jake at the show Saturday and you know I mean he wasn’t like 100% but I mean you know… the minute he showed up on that WEC show with Dana (White), you know, even if he hadn’t decided, the bottom line is that I think that Strikeforce pretty much decided they weren’t going to make him any kind offer. That was slapping them in the face, it really was.”

BRYAN ALVAREZ: “Well, he probably [expletive] himself on his own negotiations, too.”

DAVE MELTZER: “He may have. You know… I mean as far as leverage and going back-and-forth, you know them pulling out certainly hurts his leverage, you know but I think Dana is going to make him a good offer no matter what. He was already going after him. I don’t think he’s going to lowball him even though he’s got the leverage to do it now. However, he… if they had gotten both sides you know they could have gotten into a bidding war to take it higher on both sides and that is not going to happen. So, you know, he’s going to get I think what probably would be a fair deal, you know, and it’ll be interesting to see who he faces because you get a guy who can strike with the takedown defense and I mean Jake’s got that weakness, you know, I mean his striking sucks, you know by you know the level of a top 185 or 170 pounder. His ground game is fantastic and his wrestling is very good. So, you know he can beat you know if you don’t have very good takedown defense, he will beat you. But, you know, the guys, if you got great takedown and you can hit, that’s going to be Jake’s weakness.”

The most interesting aspect to this story is that the Shields camp wants to face Anderson Silva. We all know what Dana White said before the fight between Shields and Dan Henderson when he said that Shields had no business being in there against a guy that big. Wonder what Dana would say if there was money at stake to book a fight between Shields and Anderson?

Topics: Media, MMA, StrikeForce, UFC, Zach Arnold | 14 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |

14 Responses to “Strikeforce’s firing of Jake Shields”

  1. klown says:

    Can’t argue with the decision to take away Shields’ ability to exploit his Strikeforce relationship to leverage a better UFC offer.

  2. Keith Harris says:

    Yeah, I can’t blame Strikeforce for attempting to save face either. They were inevitably going to lose any bidding war, so it’s better for perception that they cut him loose before he signs with UFC. Reminds me of when Spike TV dumped Raw in 2005, rather than being the losing side of a bidding war for the show with the USA network.

  3. Coyote says:

    From the begin i think this was a great move from Strikeforce, now UFC can offer the money they want, not the money Jake and Dad want.

    The leave of Strikeforce from the Jake contract just leave UFC for the option viable to sign. And now UFC have the move, not Shields anymore.

    With this can of news, is to know like Linland says, almost all the fighters are a bunch of whores and cowards. You cant trusth in them.

    They win the treath UFC give to them, 3 looses and you get cut, or the auto sign contract if they win.

  4. 45 Huddle says:

    This is interesting from so many angles….

    1) UFC can’t pay him too much because they can’t upset the established order within their own ranks from guys who are loyal to them.

    2) UFC can’t pay him too little because they will never attract future SF fighters. That alone will keep their offer reasonable.

    3) Strikeforce didn’t want to feel used so they probably felt forced to not negotiate.

    4) Strikeforce has to worry about the perception of how they treat their champions. With both Shields and Overeem now, they are on a slippery slope of showing everybody that they treat their champions poorly.

    Don’t get me wrong. I don’t think this is some huge deal. But it’s a small but important part of the puzzle. It should certaintly impact future negotiations between the UFC and Strikeforce fighters.

  5. Jason says:

    How many times can Meltzer say “you know”. Sounds like a 13yr old teenager talk.

  6. p. says:

    Yeah.

    Or, you know, maybe Strikeforce just decided that since they had already given up on trying to match the UFC bids, they released him so he can get on with his career rather than just sit around on his ass waiting for the matching period to expire.

    In May, Coker said:

    “If we’re not going to be in the Jake Shields business, let’s just move on. That’s how I feel. This is a business. Jake has a career and a life and it’s not fair to him. But Jake is a guy we’ve appreciated having him as part of the family.”

  7. Zack says:

    Lame that SF locked him out of the arena. Take the high road.

  8. jv says:

    >”Lame that SF locked him out of the arena. Take the high rode.”

    Did they really try to lock him out or was it a case of he showed up expecting to be treated like royalty and get his face on TV and they were having none of it. If he had bought a ticket I am sure he would have gotten in no problem.

  9. p. says:

    I’d like to see something more substantial on that lock-out too.

    Don’t mistake me for a Strikeforce apologist though. While I definitely like the personality of Coker better than that of Dana, Strikeforce is my least favourite organization to watch out of the eight I try to follow (and the UFC being second least) so I don’t exactly have much of a reason to white-knight for them. I do like the ambitions of Strikeforce, but they are unfortunately failing by being a mess.

  10. […] Zach Arnold transcribes Dave Meltzer’s take on the situation and adds some commentary: “Yeah. Well, it was bound to happen. I mean, before he even left when they were already talking about the tournament, you know what I’m saying? I mean, you know, and I saw Jake at the show Saturday and you know I mean he wasn’t like 100% but I mean you know… the minute he showed up on that WEC show with Dana (White), you know, even if he hadn’t decided, the bottom line is that I think that Strikeforce pretty much decided they weren’t going to make him any kind offer. That was slapping them in the face, it really was.” … I mean as far as leverage and going back-and-forth, you know them pulling out certainly hurts his leverage, you know but I think Dana is going to make him a good offer no matter what. He was already going after him. I don’t think he’s going to lowball him even though he’s got the leverage to do it now. However, he… if they had gotten both sides you know they could have gotten into a bidding war to take it higher on both sides and that is not going to happen. So, you know, he’s going to get I think what probably would be a fair deal, you know, and it’ll be interesting to see who he faces because you get a guy who can strike with the takedown defense and I mean Jake’s got that weakness, you know, I mean his striking sucks, you know by you know the level of a top 185 or 170 pounder. His ground game is fantastic and his wrestling is very good. So, you know he can beat you know if you don’t have very good takedown defense, he will beat you. But, you know, the guys, if you got great takedown and you can hit, that’s going to be Jake’s weakness.” The most interesting aspect to this story is that the Shields camp wants to face Anderson Silva. We all know what Dana White said before the fight between Shields and Dan Henderson when he said that Shields had no business being in there against a guy that big. Wonder what Dana would say if there was money at stake to book a fight between Shields and Anderson? […]

  11. sammy says:

    To me, anything regarding Jake Shields is non-news.

    He is possibly the most boring elite fighter in the world today.

    As far as I’m concerned, strikeforce is better off without him. A couple of boring lay and pray performances in the UFC, and Dana will be sorry he ever signed him.

    • Steve says:

      Admit it … the first time you ever saw him fight was against Mayhem. The guy has eight finishes in his last ten fights, including six in the first round.

      I used to hate him back when he really was a lay & prayer (pre-2006), but he went on an absolute tear over the next three years and won me over. I’m not ready to give up on him because he couldn’t finish Mayhem Miller and Dan Henderson, especially when he was fighting under the idiotic Strikeforce rules. Give Jake ground elbows back and he’ll be back to his 2006-2009 form.

  12. Vic Mackey says:

    “you know what I’m saying? I mean, you know”

    Meltzer with the trifecta!!!

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