I think Shields would deserve an immediate shot against a contender in either weight class, and one win should put him up against the champ. Give him Martin Kampmann or the winner of Marquardt/Palhares or something, and if he wins, I have no problem with him fighting for the belt next time out.

Smart move by Shields asking for A. Silva instead of GSP. He has a better chance of out-wrestling Silva, and if he loses it isnt that big of a hit, since he would be losing to a top P4P fighter and champion in a weightclass above his “natural” weightclass.

This guy is hilarious. If Silva has trouble selling fights because he pulls crazy stuff … Jake Shields v. Silva won’t sell fights! He is the most boring fighter in MMA. It’s like the revenge of the nerds fighting Ogre. There had better be some serious inventions by Wormser or this fight is a foregone conclusion.

GSP! Silliness. Jake Shields should just pick his paycheck and fight guys he can beat, that is the Strikeforce way. He would lose to a ton of guys in the division.

If Shields does sign with the UFC, and he most likely will, an immediate title shot vs either GSP or Silva is not a good idea. He’ll lose his first fight in, and lose value getting paid in subsequent fights. Building him up is the logical way to handle Shields, and there’s good fights at either weight class to keep Shields interested and hungry.

IMO, Shields’ path to the title would be easier in MW than WW, and he’s already at weight so the transition to the UFC would be minimal.

If he comes in at MW, there’s Belfort, Maia and Wandy all healing up so it’s either Belcher, Okami or Bisping. I figure Okami or Bisping first, then Marquardt, Belfort or Wanderlei. If he can take the two or three victories against these guys, his purse goes up and he gets his chance at the champ. Sonnen will be out recuperating for a while after August, so he’ll be out of the picture.

Shields’ lay and pray could pay dividends vs. Okami, Bisping, Belfort and Wanderlei, and we saw how weill LnP worked vs. Marquardt. Hence my stating the path would be easier at MW.

Outside of the top 4 or 5 WW’s there isn’t a whole lot of real danger to Shields, but if he wants GSP’s strap, a title shot should be earned. Fitch and Koscheck could cause real problems for Shields, and Alves is still hungry.

I would expect an announcement at Saturday’s PPV. I’m sure DW already has his plan and pay worked out in advance for Shields, waiting until the release was a formality. There is good competition and good fights in the UFC in either division for Shields, but I still don’t believe he has the chops to knock off GSP or Silva.

@charlie

No. If the sheilds hendo fight had ufc in the center he would not get a title shot. Hendo was released for a reason. Part money, part he was quickly showing decline. Just SF has noone to guage talent to recognize it.

And fyi: all akoi and gomi showed us was exactly how weak dream really is. I argued this when we debated how good is moussaimonths back before Mo showed us. Step outside the ufc and its a HUGE drop. Like goin to tripple A. There’s a couple who can step up but not many who can stay.

Hey Jake, come bring that shiny belt, and put it right here in this trash can….yeah good dog, now get to the middle of the pack you curtain puller… yawn.

Headline should read:

“Jake Shields Released by Strikeforce, Wants To Get Face Raped and Brought Back to Reality”

@ArmFarmer

Humiliated Dan Henderson? Shields barely escaped being knocked out and out wrestled one of the 12 apostles. That’s like saying Klitchko just fought last weekend and humiliated Ali. Even still he didn’t even finish DH. I don’t see how people can hype him like they do. I think Kampman would be a good fight and as much as I hate Bisbitch I meean Bisbing, I think Bisbing would beat Shields.

I’d watch that fight. I’m not a sheilds fan but I also thought hendo was going to cage rape him, which didn’t happen. I’ll give him credit for being a better fighter than I thought he was, and I’d give him a decent chance @ silva. Go back and watch hendo vs Silva , it’s probably the closest silva has ever been to losing a UFC fight. Based on his performance against hendo I don’t his request is without merit. I still don’t like the guy, but I’d like to see what he can do.

since a.s. is fighting sonnen in aug, have sheilds fight belfort in sept or oct for #1 contender. then have the winners fight in feb or march

Imagine Shields and Hendo were both fighting in a UFC labled octagon. Now does he deserve a title shot?

i agree. Kampmann

Im betting he gets Bisping first

lol The guy just humiliated Dan Henderson and you think Kampman would kill him?? If that fight happens I would be shocked if Kampman was the betting favorite. Mayhem > Kampman as well

I for one would like to see Alan Belcher against Sheilds. I think that would be a great introductory fight for him.

MiddleEasy says:

“That’s why when Frank Shamrock proclaims Jake Shields to be the ‘most boring fighter he’s ever seen’ and goes so far to say that ‘his performance kills Strikeforce’s ratings’, then you have to assume the dude knows what he’s talking about.”

I don’t know where he got those quotes, but they’re hilarious… …and true. Strikeforce let him go because he’s BORING. Companies like Strikeforce don’t need the best fighters. They need good fighters that make good, watchable fights.

Note: This is what Bellator is doing right. Screw fighter rankings. Just find good, technical fighters, match them up wisely, and let them attract attention with the fireworks and crazy submissions. Have you ever noticed that most of the UFC’s that have “huge names” tend to be snoozers, while that one PPV you didn’t get because it didn’t have any household names or title fights turned out to have the best fights of the year?

Dana is going to sign him for about 5 bucks. Lost your leverage Jakey boy.

Kampman would kill shields literally…. but Belfort?? THats a scary good fight imo… Belfort wow… good call. I would like to see that… I think Belfort wins a good fight tho.

How about Belfort v Shields, winner gets a shot at the title. Be a good chance for either to prove they’re worthy.

The fact that Coker released Shields will really mess up his negotiation talks with the UFC. He’ll get probably half the price he was asking for now that he has no leverage anymore.

While everyone is trying to figure out who he should fight first, the UFC is now facing a potential epidemic as Jake Shields brings with him the highest concentration of the dreaded staphylococcus bacteria known to man.

@Bossnasty

Lutter looked defeated before he even got in the cage. He didn’t even make weight because he said he “had a hard time getting motivated”(wtf), and despite coming in overweight he still looked pale and drained. The guy lacks heart, dedication, mental toughness, and the will to win. It wasn’t his skills that lost him that fight, it was his attitude and mental weakness. Not trying to take away from A. Silva it was an impressive win anyway especially with the submission but Lutter didn’t bring his A game.. or B game for that matter.

even if he can take down A.silva, what is he gonna do? hes gonna get full mount and unleash his baby punches on him?

this is what happens when one orginization treats somene like a star. They get an over hyped opinion of themselves and start demanding things and sound retarded. am i the only one who feels like Shields might end up back in Strikeforce? especially when he gets offered a 50k/50k contract from DW?

i think shields has let this free agency thing get to his head… to ask for an immediate match against one of the top pound-for-pound fighters in the world??
i’ll admit he shocked a lot of people when he beat hendo (myself included).. but silva is NOT hendo…
shields might have been a title-holder.. but that was in strikeforce… the ufc is a different animal….

i like shields but i never had him pegged as a top 5 guy

@C-bus

He appears to be good at avoiding takedowns because he’s not fighting takedown artists, he’s fighting submission grapplers. Totally different animal. Forget Maia and Leites they aren’t wrestlers, look back to Lutter and Henderson who both took Anderson down with ease. Yes they eventually got demolished but we’re only discussing Andersons takedown defense, which in my opinion is the only hole in his game. If Shields can outwrestle Henderson for 5 rounds, he can take down Anderson.

just look at GOMI and Ayoki, they both got owned, and ppl were holding them in high regards,, its just like the same with sheilds, he sucks hes gonna get owned.
god i hate him.

What the fuck does Fedor have anything to do with this topic? No one should come in to an organization and get a shot at the title period.

I’m not sure he should debut in a championship match-up – especially after the recent upset with Fedor, I think that fighters coming from other organizations need to prove themselves a little in the UFC before they got a title shot.

I think jake is getting WAAAYYYYY ahead of himself.

Beating mayhem and hendo (keep in mind, hendo didn’t exactly suceed in the ufc, beating bisping ain’t wow’in many) places him middle of the pack mw and possibly not even there ww.

There are better wrestlers than him, way better strikers, and all around guys who will destroy him. I say go after fitch maybe, and guage from there. And stay away from 185… far away.

I could have swore that Travis Luter was supposed to be some extremely dangerous grappler and I believe he ended up getting his face beat in. I like when people are so blinded by the need to hate on silva that they will put anyone’s fighting silva’s nuts in their mouth. Sonnen and Shields both have to get past Silva’s hands to get him to the ground in case you forgot that Silva is quite possibly the best striker in the game (which a good number of professional fighters agree, before you start accusing me of being biased). In order for them to exploit any ground weakness he MAY have you yourself need a decent stand up game, and how can they stand up with Nealio hanging on their nuts?

I don’t knwo what you guys are talking about when you say that Shields doesn’t deserve to immediately challenge GSP or Silva. He’s on a 14 fight win streak, and he’ll be coming in as an undefeated champion(2x actually, both Elite XC and Strikeforce). He’s not hte most exciting fighter by any means, but you can’t say the guy hasn’t proved himself in MMA, who cares if it was in another company? Besides which, he’s a breath of fresh air for both the welter and middleweight divisions. if Silva gets past Sonnen and GSP gets past Koscheck, those divisions will be pretty barren. Shields will give either guy a challenge, isn’t that what we want?

wow… another boring lay and pray fighter…. just what the ufc needs.

I love shields but I think he needs to stick to 170 and fight some of the dudes there, it seemed like he was just at 185 to fill a void in Strikeforce.

…..I don’t know if you’ve noticed but most of the successfuls in UFC are Lay and Pray……He aint ready for silva but he’s not minor league.

I don’t know when people are going to wake up. Hendo leaves UFC for SF straight from UFC off of the Bisping KO and looses his first match. Is Hendo minor league??

I agree with J-Dog, i hate sheilds with a passion he seriously sucks, his punches are weaksauce all he does lay and pray for the desicion, the fight with miller said it all, just laying on top and waiting for the desicion, hes gonna get owned in ufc.
nuff said.

Kampmann or winner of hardy and condit depending on how soon he is ready to go even the winner (or loser) of alves and fitch

Who does this guy think he is? He comes from a Busch league organization and thinks he should get an immediate title shot for his first fight in the UFC? Put down the crack pipe!

I hope the UFC doesn’t overpay this fool….. and he should have to take at least 2 fights to prove he deserves a title shot.

Feeding Shields to Silva would be a bad play outta the gate, but you have to respect that this guy clubbed Hendo like a baby seal. Hendo wasn’t next in line for a title shot, but he was still in line. Give him the same deal Silva did – give him a chump for a first fight, then when (if?) he obliterates the chump push him into a title shot. Need more contenders at 185 anyways.

Kampmann.

Throw Fitch at him; if he gets past him, then we know he can lay n’ pray with the big dogs.

If the UFC wasn’t wasting GSP’s time filming a reality show, I would say Jake deserves an immediate title shot. He was the Elite XC WW champ and only took the Strikeforce MW shot because he had no real challengers at WW and beat Robbie Lawler.

If Strikeforce has taught us nothing else, and it hasn’t, it’s that maybe we shouldn’t screw around trying to build up our big free agent acquisitions. The UFC will give Shields a warm up fight and he’ll end up getting submitted by Dennis Hallman in 69 seconds.

I like Shields and was pleasantly suprised at his fight with Hendo. But Jake Shields is not the guy that’s gonna knock off Anderson Silva. Nor is Chael Sonnen. My feeling is that Anderson Silva, cockass as he is, will stand until he fights one of the of the other pound for pounders in the UFC, IE GSP, or Rua, or if he goes up to heavyweight and fights one of the big boys he could loose. Frank Mir has been adamant about wanting to fight Silva. That’s an interesting fight! Frank would def be the underdog but Frank is big and talented and AS won’t be able to lay on top of him or hold him against the cage like Carwin or Lesnar.

It’s time for Dana to start testing Anderson. He’s bored. If he gives him another lackluster fight, he’s gonna get another dancing decision. If Dana gets pissed at that and really does release AS, and he goes to Strike Force, that is instant money for SF because Anderson if he goes there, Anderson will fight at heavyweight.

I highly doubt that Dana White and Joe Silva would spend the money on shields just to put him up against their champs and get his ass beat to a pulp……they are gonna build him up with a couple gateway fighters so fans get to know who he is before they feed him to the wolfs

I think he should be entitled to fight Silva. The division is in need of challengers when you get past Sonnen, I think Belfort will be a great fight but he didn’t exactly earn his title shot. However Shields defeated Henderson with ease (after a shakey first round) who was ranked at second or third in the division following his win against Bisbing. So I think he is more entitled to a shot than Belfort.

I love how everyone thinks Anderson Silva is going to destroy guys like Sonnen or Shields. Apparently none of you have watched any of his fights against grapplers. I’ll sum it up: Anderson Silva doesn’t fight grapplers but instead dances around like a fairy as he squeaks out a decision.
Now if someone like Sonnen or Shields gets a hold of Silva, who knows what would happen. Mostly because he’s too busy the Macarena to fight ground guys.

Maybe he should see a medical examiner to check if he’s already punch drunk. Calling out GSP is one thing, I mean he’s still going to lose but at least he won’t get seriously hurt. Fighting Silva would only be bad for him. If I remember correctly only 2 or 3 of his opponents fought again within a year of getting schmollywhopped by AS.

 @ rM: Good catch, thanks.

Well lets first see how well the fight with chael sonnen goes before deciding to throw anderson in the ring with another ground fighter. I think sheilds probaly isnt ready for anderson i mean he was nearly KO’d by hendo and did well to recover but it was close. but there are definitely decent fighters for him to fight in both divisions. Nate Marquardt could be interesting match up or even damian maia.

My perspective of a bad company making bad decisions:

Henderson = FAIL
Mousasi = FAIL
Fedor = FAIL
Sheilds Leaving = FAIL
Nick Diaz = FAIL
Freakshow fights = FAIL
Commenting Crew = FAIL

Strikeforce = ??? <– Fill in the blank

I dont know if shields has what it takes to run with the big dogs in UFC, shure he did knock off Hendo but if they met again i dont think the same thing would happen but regardless the UFC middle weight division is alot more stacked the what jake is used to and welterweight is even more so.

How about the loser of either of those bouts? If he can get past Chael or Josh (if they both lose) then he deserves a shot but NOT before that. Dang…I just read that out loud and both of those fights (Sheilds vs Chael/Josh) sound really boring. And gay.

First thought is “Strikeforce released their welterweight champion yesterday” – Shields is/was the MIDDLEweight champion.

Second thought…a fight or 2 at 185 or 170 before jumping right in with the champions in those respective divisions is well in order imo. Only makes sense that they do it that way.

AS > JS

Anderson Silva would demolish Jake Shields. Jake Shields is a pure wrestler, and would either be knocked out via knee to the face during a take down attempt, or he’d be submitted shortly after getting to the ground. Either way, I really don’t think he’s got the skills to take Anderson Silva down. A. Silva is a master of running away from that grappling stuff.