("I am the greatest.")

Well, it looks like Jake Shields has been brainwashed by Strikeforce’s whimsical title-shot contention decisions.

In an appearance on MMAWeekly Radio this week, the former Strikeforce middleweight champ says that he wouldn’t be surprised if his UFC 121 bout with Martin Kampmann will decide who gets the next shot at current welterweight kingpin Georges St-Pierre.

"Obviously if I’m close to getting a title shot it’s a huge factor [in my decision to go back to 170]," Shields said. "I’m not really sure if this is going to be a number one contender’s fight or not, it hasn’t been mentioned to me, but there’s a good chance if I go out there and look really good doing it, it’s definitely a possibility."


Sure, it isn’t unheard of for a guy to come in and get a shot after only one win inside the Octagon, but Shields is no Anderson Silva. If he pulls out a decision win over Kampmann, I’d like to see the UFC pit him against another well-rounded guy like Dan Hardy or Jon Fitch before he steps up to GSP.

You can argue that Jake’s wrestling isn’t nearly as good as other guys like Sherk, Hughes, Fitch and  Koscheck who have all lost handily to St-Pierre, his striking is far from great and his jiu-jitsu has been pretty ineffective against other high-level or even mid-level grapplers, so what threats would he pose to GSP?

If he loses all it will do is move him back down a few rungs on the contender ladder to work his way up like he should have done in the first place.

Although I don’t see him winning the welterweight belt, I see him doing better at 170 than at 185 against some of the big middleweights like Nate Marquardt and Alan Belcher, but according to Shields, he isn’t ruling out moving back up in the future so we may find out.

"I was pretty undecided the whole time [about whether I'd stay at middleweight or return to welterweight]. I just wanted big fights, and I know GSP is tied up with the Koscheck fight, so I was thinking maybe going to 85 since my weight’s already up," Shields explained. "They called and asked if I wanted (Martin Kampmann) at 70 and I said sure. They didn’t give me any pressure; they gave me the option. Some people were saying I was forced to go down, which certainly wasn’t the case. They said I could fight at either weight, but they offered me a fight at 70, and I was like I might as well jump and take it."