shields signs with ufc and goes back to 170lbs

The UFC has a new contender in the welterweight division and his name is Jake Shields.

The former Strikeforce middleweight champion has officially signed with the UFC, and will move back down to 170lbs, where he spent the majority of his career before a recent move to 185lbs.

The news was announced by GracieFighter.com, the site for Shields' lead trainer Cesar Gracie, on late Thursday night.

Shields has been long rumored to head to the UFC after finishing his Strikeforce contract with his last fight, a unanimous decision over former UFC middleweight Dan Henderson, back in April.

Contract negotiations followed as Shields became a free agent, but Strikeforce instead opted to release the California based fighter when a number couldn't be reached, and it's been assumed since that time that he'd sign with the UFC.

The website also proclaimed that Shields would be heading back to welterweight for his first fight with the promotion, after a stay at 185lbs in Strikeforce.

"Jake's opponent is one of the UFC's top contenders and will be announced shortly," the website stated.

Current rumors for a first fight for Shields includes a possible match-up with Martin Kampmann as early as UFC 121 in October. Following a win over Paulo Thiago in June, Kampmann welcomed the chance to face Shields for his first UFC fight.

"That would definitely be a good fight," Kampmann said about Shields. "He's tough and he's ranked real high in the welterweight division. For good reason, I didn't expect him to beat (Dan) Henderson, he's definitely good."

Good move to go back to 170, considering it is probably the strongest division with A LOT of good wrestlers to test himself against.

That said, GSP-Shields sounds so boring I might cry.

Rumours of him vs Kampmann, I thought we would see him vs the winner of Fitch vs Alves....

GSP, Fitch, Kos and possibly Alves would beat him IMO, I think there are better fights at MW for him

I like the idea of Kampmann for his 1st fight,I think it will be a good introduction and fight for Sheilds.

Kampmann has only ever lost to big hitters so far,which we know sheilds isn't and he's coming of the back of beating a pretty good wrestler in volkman and absolutely dominated a very good BJJ guy in Thiago.

Kampmann for me,is one of those fighters that is not great at any one thing but has a very good all round game,who can be dangerous everywhere,plus he pushes the pace and is usually in entertaining fights.
So hopefully this will be a good fight.

GSP vs Shields
GSP vs Fitch

The two most boring fights of all time?

Anfields5thKing wrote:GSP vs Fitch

GSP v Fitch was fight of the night.

That post should have said Shields vs Fitch.

GSP vs Shields would go the same way as GSP vs Fitch, GSP has much better standup than Shields and would just batter him standing either winning a lop-sided decision or finishing it if he got his killer instinct back.

Fitch vs Shields could actually be decent, it would be an intresting ground battle because both guys are quite evenly matched on the ground so it could be a fun chess match. Then again it could possibly be a battle of LnP or a very shitty kickboxing match.

Most boring fight I can think of is Lindland vs Okami.

GSP, Shields and Fitch are three of the most boring fighters in MMA these days, GSP is the worst offender though. Because he has the skills to be an amazing fighter. Instead he's a one dimensional dry-humper.

Before I get into Shields and GSP I'll talk about Fitch. He is a boring fighter and clearly is a dryhumper at times but to be fair to him, he tries his best in finishing. You can see in his fights he TRIES to finish the fight but his subs aren't good enough and he has no power in his hands. He tries to GnP his opponents and does throw punches and elbows but he just doesn't have the skills to finish most top opponents. It's not his fault that LnP is the only way he can win fights and he has won a shit load of fights and is a top 5 WW on the back of it as well.

Niether GSP or Shields are dryhumpers, complete garbage to think they are. Dryhumping or LnPraying is taking the fighter down and sitting inside there gaurd to try and win the fight on the judges scorecard.

Niether Shields or GSP do that, it's clear in there fights there ALWAYS trying to pass and looking for submissions or GnP. GSP showed that in his last fight against Hardy and Shields showed that in his last fight against Hendo. Shields far too often gets labled with the GnP tag, his decision against Mayhem was the first in FOUR Years! I admit not watching Shields earleir in his career, maybe he was a LnPrayer but he has not been for the last four years. He has been a finisher and an exciting fighter but unfortuanatley the tag has stuck with him.

Look at any of GSP's fights, any time he gets a takedown he looks to pass or he postures up and GnP's the fighter.

GSP: 20 wins- 13 finishes

Hardy- Had two or three subs that were sinked in but Hardy didn't tap. Spent the whole second round standing and comfortably won the round. Constantly throughout the fight he was looking for subs but Hardy, training with experts of there back like Serra and Eddie Bravo was able to avoid GSP's submissions. Still it was a poor performance from GSP but he STILL won a very lop-sided decision.

Alves- He GnPounded Alves the first and second round and had a tight RnC in the second. He completely battered him the second round and scored throughout the fight with kicks. Arguably the last two rounds were LnP but he was actually still looking for submissions and he was injured as he tore his groin. Made his movement a lot harder throughout the fight.

BJ Penn- Stopped BJ in the 4th round. It wasn't a clean stoppage, BJ's corner stopped it. Fine, only Matt Hughes has ever stopped BJ but whatever you say there was no way that was LnP. After a first close round GSP just simply battered BJ with brutal GnP. BJ got his ass kicked, and GSP punched holes through him.

Fitch- One sided ass kicking. GSP should have finished this fight like the Hardy fight but that was his fault, he in no way LnPed he dismantled Fitch. One of the most one sided 5 round title fights along with BJ vs Sanchez and Franklin vs the Crow.

Serra- Stopped him in the second round

Hughes- Stopped him in the second round

Kos- A bit more LnP in this one than the others but if he didn't take Kos down, Kos would have taken him down and dryhumped him. Exactly what Kos did in the first round. Atleast when GSP got the takedown he was looking to pass.

Hughes- Finished him in the second

BJ- A little bit more LnP in this one as well but think of this logically. BJ beat him up quite a bit in the first round and poked him in the eye so GSP couldn't see clearly. GSP was also just a kid, this isn't where he was one of the best fighter in the world. He still was looking to pass in the fight and GnPed and was looking for subs. BJ has excellent BJJ though, it nearly impossible for GSP to sub him.

GSP is clearly not a dryhumper, he looks to finish the fight. Since he got Koed by Serra he has been less willing to stand, especially with guys with big power like Hardy and Alves. It's understandable, why risk losing them when you can beat them in easier ways?

Sometimes I think either he makes technichal mistakes and or his finishing instinct is weak. Against Hardy, it was a poor mistake to let Hardy off the hook but at the same time Hardy was in pain. If he didn't want to tap, GSP should have taken a chapter out of Aoki's book and broke Hardy's arm. I don't like seeing fighters have there bones breaking but if he is too stupid to tap because he wants to show he's a tough guy, break it. But clearly there was a mistake in his technique. Fine, thats nothing to with LnP that just means you need to work on your BJJ. I don't think Jackson or Firas are that good for BJJ. Sparring with KenFlo will help a bit but he isn't a proper BJJ instructor. Renzo Gracie I don't think is too good a teacher either. If he went and learned shit of Garcia, ROGER Gracie, Xandie, the Riberio bros I think that would help him a lot. Just for BJJ purposes only, he can stick with Firas and Jackson for conditioning, game planning, Muay Thai, wrestling, sparring partners and shit.

You say he has the skills to be an amazing fighter, well good but it seems like he doesn't need them. He has won his last SEVEN fights very convincingly. In fact he 18 out of 22 fights he has won without even being challanged. He has four fights where he came in under some pressure. The two losses and decisions against BJ and Karo.

Shit, that was my longest post in a LONG time!

I agree with chelsea to an extent.

GSP (and Sheilds) do try to finish fights, unlike maybe Koscheck Lindland or Okami for example.

I think the thing about GSP is that he is a very very safe fighter, he has a very low risk style, which is probably why he wins so often, and probably why his fights can be boring

Ye I agree he is a low risk, very safe type of fighter since the Matt Serra fight. It was a bad experience to go through so mentally it has affected him so it leaves him with not wanting to lose.

I wish he wouldn't fight like that against some of his opponents. I can understand it against fighters like Alves because he is a big guy with huge power and an overall excellent striker who does have the advantage standing. Against someone like Hardy though, who isn't a better striker than him but has power, I would like to see him stand with him and strike. GSP's is a better technichal striker and more verstile, he could make the fight more exciting. Just don't stand and bang with him.

GSP last few opponents

Kos - Never came close to finishing, lay and pray. Look what Alves did to him soon after.
Serra - Never top 10. Had the belt because of GSP's dodgy chin.
Hughes - past it. Look what Alves did to him soon after.
Fitch - Lots of dryhumping. Should have finished the fight, preferred to hump some more. Gave him a beating but with that sort of dominance, not finishing is shameful.
Penn - Dryhumping galore, wouldn't have finished in JD hadn't thrown in the towel. Comical claims that he began the molestation of BJ because he couldn't see properly.
Alves - Lots of dryhumping. Never came close to finishing. "Groin tear" was proven not to be so after the fight.
Hardy - Epic display of dryhumping. An extravaganza of turtle sex. Two of the worst sub attempts ever. Other than those, never close to finishing.

13 finishes, of the first 7 in his career 6 were against cans with only the average Jay Hieron being a non-can. Then Trigg-average, Sherk-LW and the most impressive of his career against Hughes. Then he got KO'd by Serra and since then a beating of a past-it Matt Hughes and a never really was Matt Serra are his only stoppages. The BJ fight goes down as a stoppage but in reality it could have gone 10 rounds and he wouldn't have stopped him without JD.

GSP is a boring fighter. He tries to finish fights for the first round or two, realizes he can't and reverts to taken people down, humping, passing gaurd and humping some more. Boring one dimensional fighter. When he fights Kos he better bring his stand-up skills and remember what made him great.

I really hope GSP wins against Kos, although I think Kos has a great chance to beat him as he's a better wrestler and hits harder. GSP beats Kos, he gets Anderson. Then he's going to sleep. Thiago-Fitch winner is getting the next shot but may have to wait til after GSP-Silva.

GSP has the skills and ability to be the best EVER but he's too scared to take the necessary risks.

Kos - Never came close to finishing, lay and pray. Look what Alves did to him soon after.
Serra - Never top 10. Had the belt because of GSP's dodgy chin.
Hughes - past it. Look what Alves did to him soon after.
Fitch - Lots of dryhumping. Should have finished the fight, preferred to hump some more. Gave him a beating but with that sort of dominance, not finishing is shameful.
Penn - Dryhumping galore, wouldn't have finished in JD hadn't thrown in the towel. Comical claims that he began the molestation of BJ because he couldn't see properly.
Alves - Lots of dryhumping. Never came close to finishing. "Groin tear" was proven not to be so after the fight.
Hardy - Epic display of dryhumping. An extravaganza of turtle sex. Two of the worst sub attempts ever. Other than those, never close to finishing.

Kos-He never came close to finishing but he was TRYING to finish Kos. Kos was LnP the whole of the first round, if GSP didn't take him down Kos would have humped him to death. Alves beat him by decision because he was a much better standup fighter and Kos couldn't take him down. Alves should have been able to finish him, ridiculous to compare the two. Completely different styles.

Serra- My point was that he finished him, not the quality of the opponent.

Hughes-See Above

Fitch- Watch this fight again because GSP battered him from start to finish. I agree he should have been able to finish him, but Fitch is a tough guy to finish and GSP wasn't taking the neccessary risks to finish.

BJ- Watch this fight again because GSP battered him from start to finish. Did you see BJ at the end of the fight? He could barely stand, BJ has never used JD as an excuse because he knows he was done, he was glad that his brother pulled him out of that ass kicking. BJ's pride stopped him from being finished but he was done. Oh and he couldn't see in the FIRST fight, not the second one, after BJ poked his eye out.

Alves- Never came close to finishing? He had a RnC on in the second half and was pounding him. If Alves wasn't so big he would have sunk that choke in. He did tear his groin and was out for a few months. It was a slight tear but even a slight tear hurts like hell when its your groin.

Hardy- He tried subs in every single round besides the second where the fight was all standing. He had a tight knee bar right at the end of the fight but time ran out. For two of the worst subs, he almost pulled them off. Hardy was in clear pain.


The only reason GSP can be boring is because he takes no risks. fine, boring by choice at times but so is Anderson Silva and he gets no complaints from you. He panicks a little if he can't finish the fight in two rounds and reverts to takedowns and subs. If he wants to fight like that, as I said before he needs to get better BJJ teacher but so far there is no evidence to suggest he needs them.

He can beat Kos whatever way he wants, standing or by taking him down. He'll probably need to take Kos down to avoid being dryhumped, which he will able to do with ease. GSP has shown he can take Kos down and he has excellent takedown defence. Kos can only win with a Matt Serra punch.


As for Silva, the only reason he would lose is because of size. Silva is big for even LHW, he is a massive MW and the biggest WW ever. Still the cut will kill him, he'll gas early and GSP should be able to beat him. Silva has never faced any fighter who's takedowns are as good Silva.

It's a shame that risks have affected GSP's style a little and stopped his standup game to a certain extent but thats how much that Serra fight affected him. Garbage a fighter that had no business being in there with him in the first place did that but oh well, its done wonders for his career's because he has been untouchable since then and has now, in many people's eyes becoming the GOAT at WW and the number one P4P fighter in the world. Beat Silva and then there is no doubt he is the P4P best fighter.

It'll be difficult to be the GOAT everywhere because he said if he beats Silva, he could very well retire. If he continue's though, he'll need Fedor to have a rough end to his career and to have continue fighting and winning for a while longer.

He was never close to finishing Alves. And he didn't tear his groin. He pulled it. There's a massive difference.

Dryhumped Fitch and BJ.

GSP - Couldn't finish a wank.

Strikeforce middleweight champion Jake Shields (25-4-1 MMA, 0-0 UFC) has signed with the Ultimate Fighting Championship, where he'll return to the welterweight division and fight Martin Kampmann (17-3 MMA, 8-2 UFC) at UFC 121.

MMAjunkie.com today confirmed the expected plans with Jack Shields, Jake's father and manager, who said bout agreements are being finalized today.

Shields had hoped to remain at middleweight for his Oct. 23 debut, but Jack Shields said the fighter agreed to drop back to welterweight at the urging of UFC officials.

UFC 121 takes place at the Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif. MMAFighting.com first reported the possibility of the fight over the weekend.

"Jake has fought a lot of the top guys, and now he'll fight the best of the them," Jack Shields told MMAjunkie.com. "He's happy the signing has come to fruition."

Shields, who also previously held titles with Shooto and EliteXC, makes his octagon debut with a staggering 14-fight win streak. In his most recent fight, he defended his belt and defeated ex-UFC fighter Dan Henderson at April's CBS-televised "Strikeforce: Nashville" event. Shields, in fact, topped many other UFC veterans during his streak, including ex-champ Dave Menne, Yushin Okami, Carlos Condit, Mike Pyle, Nick Thompson, Paul Daley, Robbie Lawler and Jason "Mayhem" Miller.

After his string of eight consecutive stoppage victories, Shields' recent wins over Henderson and Miller came via decision.

Kampmann, a former kickboxer who's rounded out his fight game with solid ground skills, is a former middleweight contender who dropped to 170 pounds 2009. He's 4-1 since the move with recent victories over Jacob Volkmann at UFC 108 (submission) and Paulo Thiago (decision) at UFC 115. The lone loss came to Daley in 2009.

A victory for either Shields or Kampmann very well could result in a title shot. Current champ Georges St-Pierre and Josh Koscheck fight in December following their stints as coaches on "The Ultimate Fighter 12," but the Shields vs. Kampmann winner (or the winner of a UFC 117 bout between Jon Fitch and Thiago Alves) could be next in line

I wouldn't be at all shocked if The Hitman beats Shields

Kampmann will murder him standing. He needs to focus on takedown defence and speed. Keep it standing and Kampmann can beat him.

I foresee some turtle sex though.

You and I need to stop agreeing with each other Anfield. We have reputations to uphold

Haha! true mate, very true.

Prick!

haha!

shields via boring decision. Wouldnt be surprised to see Kampmann win though

As for Fitch vs Shields, I think it comes down to whichever fighter gains top control. Jon Fitch has a very busy top game so although he hasn't ground and pound finished anyone in a while I suspect him leaving Shields looking very ugly if he's allowed to stay in position. Shields proved his ability to win five round fights through maintaining position when fighting against Mayhem Miller and against a much larger fighter in Dan Henderson (although he's never been known for his game off of his back.)

My one complaint about the serious domination of fighters from a wrestling background throughout the sport is that a number of fighters look like fishes out of water as soon as they are put on their back. They're not complete fighter but they have very solid wrestling and make up for their lack of striking skills by hitting really hard. Personally, I'm very excited about the next generation of fighter that grows up as a mixed martial artist training all aspects of the game equally, although I'll miss seeing "style" matches.

Ah yes i was expecting to comeback and see Shields sign to UFC. I think he will beat Kampmann.

Shields really has an amazing world class ground game.