Jake Shields Looking For Resurgence As A Middleweight But Open To Both Weight Classes
By Jamie McAllister:
Jake Shields has had mixed success in his UFC career but things seem to be looking up for him after the win at UFC 144 where he won a decision against former Middleweight Yoshihiro Akiyama in the Welterweight division. Shields who has previously competed at Middleweight and was the Strikeforce Middleweight champion beating Mayhem Miller for the title and a successful defence against Dan Henderson, Shields in a recent interview with mmajunkie discusses his future.
“I’m willing to fight at either weight, so whatever they offer me, I’ll take it,”
“I really feel like I’m in the middle,” he said. “I hate cutting weight down to 170; I feel like the last couple of pounds, I feel a little bit weaker. But I’m a little bit small for 185.
“Really, I’d be perfect for the weight in the middle, but unfortunately, there’s not (that option). I haven’t figured out which way to go.”
“I really want to fight the top guys,” Shields said. “Obviously, Anderson Silva being at the top, that’s what I want. Unfortunately, some of the very best guys at that weight are my friends. Chael Sonnen and Michael Bisping are two of the very best. But I guess it comes down to business. Sometimes, you’ve got to fight your friends.”
“They’re both top-five, and I want to fight top-five opponents,” he said. “So it’s definitely an unfortunate situation. But if I’m at the weight, I want to beat the best.”
Where do you see Shields future at do you think he would be able to make a run at the Welterweight title ? Or do you think he would fair better in the Middleweight division where he may get to a title shot faster if he gets some wins under his belt ?
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Jamie McAllister
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For Shields, I dunno what to say. He would have a decent chance at either weight class if he improved his stand – up. He’s got no power in his hands, but has an effective jab, that’s about it. Bisping, Sonnen, Anderson, Munoz, and Okami would all kill him. Even though I know he beat Okami before. His best chance is at welterweight I think. But really, I think he won’t last long in the UFC – two more years tops.
Jake Shields defeated Okami already in the past.
Duh, he said that.
Stick with Welterweight I say, if you can’t hang with GSP on the feet then there’s no way you could ever hang with Silva. And you shouldn’t be talking about title matches and top five opponents when you got ****ing massacred against Jake Ellenberger.
Jake shields should’ve lost all of his UFC fights .. IMO he lost against akiyama .. He got judo tossed like two or three times … He wasn’t effective w anything .. Akiyama scored beautiful throws and technique that no one has shown in the octagon .. Shields couldn’t even get a takedown after trying all fight … He should’ve lost against kampman too … He was overrated to begin with
Yeah, he looked poor against Akiyama too. But he did win that fight just through Akiyama’s lack of activity in striking. I think Shields is seeing the quality of opponents now in the UFC. In 4 fights, his take – downs were only effective against Kampmann. But Kampmann handled his ground game pretty easy. We haven’t seen any of his jiu – jitsu brilliance on display in the UFC thus far.
Santa ana 714 .. Where’s Gil at?