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Jake Shields wants to fight Georges St. Pierre within the next year
By Zach Arnold | June 16, 2010
But he’s still on the fence, publicly, as far as signing with UFC. That’s the gist from a radio interview spot he did last night with Hector Castro of MMA Die Hards.
HECTOR CASTRO: “As soon as you beat Dan (Henderson) and your contract with Strikeforce was semi-up, I noticed a lot more face time on The Ultimate Fighter. I’m not sure if you caught that as well.”
JAKE SHIELDS: “I’ve actually missed the last few episodes. I’ve been traveling so I keep missing them. I think they’re probably already edited, so it’s probably just random. I don’t know, but who knows?”
HECTOR CASTRO: “Well, now there’s been a lot of talk obviously about you signing with the UFC or going back to Strikeforce. I know you’ve out to the a lot of events. You were at the UFC Fan Expo and I know that you know you’ve been in contract talks there. There has been a report by according to this guy who claims he’s one of your friends on the UG mentioning that you have signed with the UFC.”
JAKE SHIELDS: “It’s rumors. There’s been no signing. But nothing signed, nothing… you know, I mean, obviously there are starting to be talks but nothing’s that close to coming along. Decisions aren’t made yet. We’re still in the early stages and obviously I’m a big UFC fan and have been for years but it’s still not 100% at this point.”
HECTOR CASTRO: “OK, understood. And how was, I mean, your relationship with Strikeforce, you guys are still negotiating. It’s not like a done deal with UFC, which a lot of people are pretty much expecting.”
JAKE SHIELDS: “We’re still talking. I mean, I don’t know, my manager handles this. I’m just kicking back, training, and traveling doing expos and all that and I let him figure everything out.”
HECTOR CASTRO: “Is going to the UFC, is that something you always had on your career goals?”
JAKE SHIELDS: “My career goals have always has been to go out there and you know fight the best fighters, you know before it was UFC vs. PRIDE and UFC vs. Strikeforce and just you know I love fighting. I’m looking to fight wherever I can fight the best match-ups possible.”
HECTOR CASTRO: “You had one of the best fighters in the world [Georges St. Pierre] kind of call you out and say that he’d love to fight you and love to obviously give you an opportunity to win the belt if you went to the UFC, so I mean you have the best of the best calling you out. What are your thoughts on that?”
JAKE SHIELDS: “I think it’s awesome that someone like GSP would call me out, you know. I’ve called him out several times in the past and he now agrees I’m the person to fight, I mean that’s showing a lot of respect, you know, calling me out in a respectful way and I think that’s really cool and that’s a fight I would like to have, that I want, he wants, and I think a lot of the fans want so we’ll see in the next year or so if that will come together.”
Later on in the interview…
CO-HOST: “I mean, that has to have some kind of an effect on what your decision may or may not be in terms of which promotion that you’re going to fight for, so like what are you telling your agent as far as that? Is it you know, listen, you know, you’re in it, it’s a short career, you have to get paid, but if the money is equal, how are you not signing with the UFC?”
JAKE SHIELDS: “Yeah, the UFC holds so much prestige and always a show of respect and of course part of my mind is going that way but I’m just trying not to jump to conclusions, you know, I’m trying to let my manager do his job and sit back and make sure I get paid and get a good deal, you know… … Strikeforce is a huge growing organization with their CBS and Showtime (deals) and you know guys like Jacare (Souza) so I’m trying to sit back and let my manager handle it and not be too forceful.”
SNIP
HECTOR CASTRO: “Yeah, absolutely, and I think one of the things that if you sign back with Strikeforce, who’s next in line in your opinion as to who you would like to fight? Would it be Jacare? Would it be a rematch with Mayhem (Miller)? Is that something that you’d consider?”
JAKE SHIELDS: “I would think like Jacare and to have like Henderson fight Mayhem or Robbie Lawler fight Mayhem for #1 contender. That’s the way I would look at it, but again you know, if you’re the champion I think it’s up to the promotion to make the decision you know the champ doesn’t get to pick who they fight.”
Topics: Media, MMA, StrikeForce, UFC, Zach Arnold | 17 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
I can’t wait to see Jake Shields have to “prove himself in the Octagon” by beating a supposed top ten welterweight like Carlos Condit first.
On second thought, yeah, I can wait forever before needing to see that. I do hope he gets a mighty big contract though if he’s gonna be mired in the midcard fighting randoms.
1. He’s already beaten Condit.
2. I doubt he’ll be ‘mired in the midcard fighting randoms’. He’ll get the Anderson Silva treatment (circa 2005) and get a title shot after one fight. He is the only major threat at 170 that GSP hasn’t beaten yet. They’ll give him one fight while GSP & Kos wrap up their business on TUF 12 and then Shileds will get the next crack at the champ.
You’re right. So he gets Martin Kampmann or Dan Hardy instead. Maybe. I wouldn’t be surprised if it was someone worse than that – Diego Sanchez needs something to do, right? In any case, wake me when he finally gets the title shot in a year.
So with the good ole sarcasm you love to push on here, you are trying to say that Hardy or Kampman pose no threat to shields?
I would have to completely disagree.
edub,
I think Kampmann poses a threat to Shields, but Hardy would be taken down at will and either submitted or ridden to a decision.
Just because GSP took down Hardy at will doesn’t mean Shields can.
Dan Henderson was an olympian wrestler, but he got taken down from single leg after single leg. He looked old, and Shields capitalized. I mean why do you continue to try and hit swithces all fight and not just try and scramble. Get a freakin underhook, something.
I will admit that I overrated Hendo’s wrestling ability before the fight, and Shields showed great ability…
But, Shields takedowns are not on the level of Koscheck, Lesnar, or Velasquez. Let alone GSP.
So with the good ole sarcasm you love to push on here, you are trying to say that Hardy or Kampman pose no threat to shields?
Anyone he fights is a potential risk. Anyone. He could fight you or me and it is potentially risky so far as his hopes of a title fight go. As far as those being fights I want to see – Not really. Could Hardy beat him? Yeah, its possible, even if I don’t see it as being probable. Do I need to see him beat Dan Hardy to think he’s a legitimate contender to GSP? No. Does a fight with Hardy do anything for me as far as making me want to see Shields fight on in the UFC? No.
I don’t get anything extra special out of the deal. Am I supposed to be getting excited over a unnecessary #1 contender bout I’ll be asked to pay for?
“I don’t get anything extra special out of the deal. Am I supposed to be getting excited over a unnecessary #1 contender bout I’ll be asked to pay for?”
IF the UFC set up a match with Shields and the winner of Fitch-Alves would that be an unnecessary #1 contender match? Either will have just defeated a top 4 ranked WW and Shields would not have competed at WW in a couple years by then.
I’ll be honest: I don’t personally think Shields has anything to prove as far as whether or not he deserves the shot. I don’t see how any questions remain that would be answered by Dan Hardy which weren’t asked and responded to strongly by Paul Daley, Robbie Lawler, or Dan Henderson.
I could perhaps be swayed by Fitch/Alves winner facing Shields, but that still doesn’t make me any happier than GSP isn’t fighting Shields until May 2010 at earliest. We’re talking two years between legit top contenders.
Good points.
Of course all this hinges on GSP beating Koscheck.
Someone has mentioned Him Vs Hardy in England, I assumed he would fight the winner of Alves-Fitch but he could quite easily lose that fight.
Matching him up against a no-ground-game striker is certainly the safest route. He’s already shown he can take a flush shot from one of the hardest hitters in the sport and survive. I’m sure he could take Dan Hardy’s best shot and still take him down and submit him. Shields would capitalize on those submission opportunities that GSP missed.
Shields vs. Kampmann would be a good first fight…or measuring stick if you will.
BTW….
Ward vs. Green this weekend!!!
Who you guys got?
Gotta go with the hot hand: Ward. Green hasn’t done anything to impress me in years. Plus its in Ward’s hometown.
Yea I completely agree.
Green shows so much talent at certain points, but he falls off too. Maybe all the talk about him never having a full training camp causing his unimpressive performances will become a sticking point. He should be more than ready for this match.
People like to say that he hasn’t been the same since he had most of his colon removed in ’07. But you know, Donny McCrary knocked him down in ’06. Emmitt Linton took him the distance in ’06 and made him look bad. He just may never have been that good to start with.
Ward is all wrong for him. Bad matchup. He’d be better off with Froch or Kessler. At least he can hit them.