Strikeforce middleweight champion Jake Shields (24-4-1 MMA, 2-0 SF) is in a unique position when he defends his belt for the first time on April 17 against top-tier import Dan Henderson (25-7 MMA 0-0 SF) at "Strikeforce: Nashville." He is not required to stay with the organization if he wins.
The "champion clause" is common to top promotions and makes sure fighters can't immediately look for greener pastures if they win or retain a title on the last fight of their contracts. It's a safeguard to make sure the promotion gets a return on its investment.
Shields, however, confirmed to MMAjunkie.com (
www.mmajunkie.com) that his fight with Henderson is the final obligation on his current Strikeforce contract.
He is a free agent on April 17 – whether it's his or Henderson's hand raised at the end of the night.
Shields admits it's a career gamble. If he wins on April 17, his free agency could bring him to find the best possible contract on the open market. That could mean a new deal with Strikeforce – or a trip to the UFC, which he's coveted for some time. (In several interviews, he's welcomed a fight with UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre, and St-Pierre has done so in kind.)
If he falls short in Nashville, though, his bargaining power immensely decreases.
Shields is trying not to think about the stakes in the buildup to the fight. It's a balancing act between his longterm goals with the biggest challenge of his career that faces him now.
"I am happy with Strikeforce," Shields said. "They've given me big fights like I asked for, so I'm happy with them. But also, I do want big fights, and of course the UFC has a lot of big fights as well.
"I try not to think about that too much; I'm just trying to get through Dan. This is the biggest fight of my career. I'll just get through that and re-evaluate the situation from there."
Shields, long considered one of the top non-UFC welterweights in the world before his jump to middleweight, said he decided not to sign a new deal with Strikeforce prior to the April 17 fight because he wanted to find out what he's worth.
"I wanted to be a free agent," said Shields, who's also held EliteXC and Rumble on the Rock titles during his current 13-fight win streak. "I haven't been a free agent in a couple of years, and I wanted the option of leaving Strikeforce. Not that I'm leaving Strikeforce; I just wanted the option.
"Right now, I can't really talk to other shows. It's in the contract. You can't talk any business. So I just want to be in a situation where I can look at my options and figure it out from there."
In 2009, Shields carved new territory as a middleweight. After submitting Robbie Lawler this past May at 182 pounds, he bested Jason "Mayhem" Miller at a bona fide 185 pounds to win the promotion's vacant middleweight belt.
But there's no doubt in Shields' mind that Henderson is the toughest opponent he's faced yet. Henderson is a former two-title PRIDE champion, a former UFC contender, and has fought a laundry list of the sport's best over a 13-year career. Plus, he's an Olympic-caliber wrestler, which many believe to be the kryptonite to Shields' jiu-jitsu base.
Still, a win over Henderson would make him an even more bankable star.
"It's taking a lot of risk, and you get a lot of reward that way," Shields said.
Shields isn't sure when his current Strikeforce contract allows him to negotiate a new deal after the April 17 fight, but he believes it's no more than a few months.
He just hopes that he's in the right position in his next trip to the bargaining table.
"I like Strikeforce, so as long as it's a good offer, and it looks like they're going to get some good opponents – I also want to fight top competition, so it's the combination of pay, exposure, and top competition," he said. "Those are the three things I'll make my decision off of."
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