UFC boss expects quick deal with Jake Shields, where he fights still undecided
Strikeforce on Wednesday released its middleweight champion, Jake Shields, which confirmed the fighter's long-expected exodus from the promotion.
The man who's long coveted his services, UFC president Dana White, today told MMAjunkie.com he sees no reason why he can't ink Shields "quickly."
If a UFC deal is done, Shields' manager said the fighter wants to fight "a couple" of fights at middleweight, then drop to welterweight. White doesn't necessarily agree.
"I think he should come in at 170 pounds," the UFC president said.
Shields (25-4-1) has fought the bulk of his career at welterweight but bulked up in June 2009 to challenge Robbie Lawler at 182 pounds and handily took a submission victory.
In what was likely a nod to his Cesar Gracie-trained teammate, career welterweight Nick Diaz, Shields kept the pounds on and won Strikeforce's vacant 185-pound belt with a decision over Jason Miller. He defended the strap in April with another decision over UFC and PRIDE veteran Dan Henderson.
"Our 185-pound division is nasty," White said. "He can [come in as a middleweight] if he wants to. I don't think he wants to."
"Why would you want to come into that 185-pound division? I know Anderson (Silva) dominates so much that he makes everybody else look (bad), but you've got Nate Marquardt in there. There's some tough guys in that division, and he's not a big 185-pounder.
"The real 185-pounders are cutting down from 215 to make that weight, so I would say 170, but on the flipside, you've got to give the guy his credit. He beat Henderson. Henderson fought at 185 and 205. So if he told me he wanted to go to 185, I wouldn't argue with him."
Shields was not a free agent and had time remaining on the "matching period" of his Strikeforce contract at the time of his release. The promotion had the right to match any offers he received from outside promotions, but after an initial "numbers dance" with Jack Shields, the fighter's manager and father, Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker kept with an earlier pledge not to engage in a bidding war with the UFC.
"We just felt that the numbers (for Shields' next contract) were different than what the value was," Coker said. "Jake is a great kid and we'll be rooting for him in the future."
Jack Shields said he is "working out numbers" with the UFC, though he gave no timetable for a potential deal.
"We would like to go to middleweight, fight a couple of fights, and then go down to welterweight," he said.
The elder Shields was surprised by the sudden release but said he had no hard feelings toward Strikeforce, despite earlier feeling that his son wasn't promoted well by the San Jose, Calif.-based promotion.
"Strikeforce has been great," he said. "Jake had the chance to fight on Showtime and CBS four or five times against some top fighters in the world."
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