Jake Shields, the man who won the vacant Strikeforce middleweight championship in Nov. 2009 with a unanimous decision win over Jason Miller, then went on to defeat MMA legend and former UFC middleweight Dan Henderson in April 2010 at “Strikeforce: Nashville“, will make his UFC debut as a welterweight.
GracieFighter reports:
“Jake Shields will be debuting at the 170lbs weight division in the UFC. After careful consideration and consulting with UFC representatives it was determined Jake would be finally going back to his original fighting weight.”
This means Shields will be competing in the same division and against such fighters as Josh Koscheck, Thiago Alves, Jon Fitch, and reigning UFC 170 lb. champion Georges St-Pierre.
When ProMMAnow.com spoke with Shields last month, and word was out he was likely headed to the UFC, we asked him which weight class he preferred to fight in, welterweight or middleweight. He said,
“I’m feeling good at either weight right now. I started feeling pretty good at 185 on my last fight, but I can go back down if I want.”
Shields has shown great success and won championship titles in both weight classes, but many do feel his physical frame is more suited to the 170 lb. division. Shields became the first Elite XC welterweight champion in July 2008 with a submission win over Nick Thompson, then defended the title successfully in his next fight against Paul Daley.
With the option of fighting at welterweight or middleweight, we asked Shields which UFC champion he feels he matches up best with, Anderson Silva (185 lbs.) or Georges St-Pierre (170 lbs.). Shields simply said “they would both be great opponents and they are two of the best.”
Yes, they are two of the best, both ranked number one in their respective weight classes. Shields is also one of the best and ranked at middleweight as high as third on some sites. Although not currently ranked among the top ten welterweights, it is only because he has not fought at that weight class in almost two years, and is therefore ineligible under most ranking guidelines.
In June 2009, the Independent World MMA Rankings had Shields ranked fourth in the welterweight (170 lbs.) division. Even then St-Pierre was still ranked number one.
What would a potential future match-up between St-Pierre and Shields look like? Would Shields be able to get the takedown on GSP? Would St-Pierre’s striking make the difference? It is one of those dream fights fans wonder “what if?” Hopefully it is one dream that will come true.
In the meantime though, Shields will have to earn a shot against St-Pierre by defeating at least one of the UFC’s top welterweights. GracieFighter tells us:
“Jake’s opponent is one of the UFC’s top contenders and will be announced shortly.”
Any guesses?
UPDATE (3:20 p.m. CT): If you notice, nothing in the GracieFighter report actually states that Shields has already signed with the UFC. Now MMAFighting has confirmed with Dana White that the deal is still not complete… but at least we know what weight class he will be fighting at, right?