By Chris Howie
October 8th, 2008



With a second round submission victory this past Saturday Night against Paul Daley at EliteXC: Heat on CBS, EliteXC Welterweight Champion Jake Shields continues to make his case for a spot at the top of the welterweight rankings.

Shields has now reeled off eleven straight wins but finds himself at a cross road as EliteXC is lacking top welterweight talent to compete against Shields. Now the champion finds himself thinking his next move may be back to the 185lb division to find top competition

In this MMANews.com exclusive, Chris Howie chats with Shields about his fight this past weekend and what the future has in store for him.


Chris Howie for MMANews.com:What were your thoughts on the fight?

Jake Shields: I think it was a good great. Paul had great takedown defense and it took me a little while to find my rhythm. I caught up to him in the second and that was that.

MMANews.com: You showed off your Jiu-Jitsu skills as you worked for submissions a few times throughout the fight.

Jake Shields: Yeah my Jiu-Jitsu felt really good. I was all over him but he wasn't making a lot of mistakes. He was watching his neck and keeping his arms in but I watched for it and caught his arm in the second.

MMANews.com: Was Daley tougher than you anticipated?

Jake Shields: I was expecting him to be tough. I have been watching his tapes and he had knocked out his last six opponents so I wasn't taking him lightly. His takedown defense and ground defense were better than I expected but his Jiu-Jitsu wasn't better than I expected at all. He was doing some things right. Definitely a tough kid.

MMANews.com: Did it feel good to humble him after the lack of respect from him leading up to the fight and at the weigh ins?

Jake Shields: Yeah definitely. He was very disrespectful towards me in all of his interviews leading up to the fight and especially at the weigh in's so it felt good to pop his arm pretty good. He was definitely someone I didn't want to lose to.

MMANews.com: When he tried to roll out of the arm bar and didn't get anywhere did you know you had him done at that point?

Jake Shields: Yeah he went for the roll out but I had it locked it really good. I squeezed my legs and held his wrist. He was trying really hard but once I had it I started cranking it and it was having his arm broke or tapping out and he was smart about it and tapped.

MMANews.com: What is next for you at this point?

Jake Shields: I don't really know. I haven't talked to EliteXC about it yet. We'll give it a week and take it from there. I know I won't be fighting on their November 8th show but I would like to fight again in January. I have to see what they offer me. Their 170lb division is pretty thin unfortunately so I have to see what they have for me or if I will move up to middleweight.

MMANews.com: Who do you see within EliteXC or anyone in the free agent pool for that matter that would be a tough challenge for you at 170lb?

Jake Shields: John Alessio is a really tough fighter and that is a possibility. Jay Hieron, he is with Affliction but he is a tough guy. There aren't a lot of big card names like I would like to fight because all of the big name guys are in the UFC so I'm kind of stuck fighting other guys at 170 or moving up to 185lb and fighting someone like Robbie Lawler or Matt Lindland.

MMANews.com: What about Phil Baroni, what are you thinking of him at 170?

Jake Shields: I'm actually really good friends with Phil so I would only fight him if it was a fight that needed to happen like a big title fight. He is certainly someone that I would not be calling out and I don't think he would either.

MMANews.com: There were talks of that fight with Lindland at the second Affliction show when it was scheduled for October, do you see that coming up again down the road?

Jake Shields: I know I'm interested in that fight. We haven't talked to Affliciton again about it but we have in the past so if it comes up again I'm interested. I think it wcdbg ould be a great fight. EliteXC and Affliction are now working together so it will be more realistic. Lucky I didn't sign that fight for them in October considering the show got postponed. [laughs]

MMANews.com: So are you feeling comfortable moving back up to 185lb?

Jake Shields: Well yeah but I would rather be at 170lb. But I'm kind of in a situation where I'm going to be forced to go up and fight the 85lber's

MMANews.com: You mention Lawler and Lindland, who else are you looking at in the middleweight division.

Jake Shields: There are lots of guys I'd like to fight, Cung Le, Frank Shamrock, I love Frank Shamrock, there are just a lot of guys that are not in the UFC I'd like to fight at 185.

MMANews.com: What about a fight with Frank Trigg, you guys have some history.

Jake Shields: Yeah, I've been wanting to fight Trigg for a while but he has made it very clear that he doesn't want to fight me. That won't happen unless Frank changes his mind.

MMANews.com: What exactly went down between you two?

Jake Shields: He was just really disrespectful towards so I wanted to fight him and he would just come up with all these excuses as to why he wouldn't fight me. Every time I'd see him he would deny talking crap but he would be on the radio running his mouth so he would blatantly lie to me. At this point it is just wasting my time trying to fight Frank Trigg.

MMANews.com: You mention Cung Le, do you think he will stick around the sport or do you feel he is focused on his movie career?

Jake Shields: I think his main focus is movies and he wants to go in that direction but he will probably have maybe one or two more fights. His name is so big right now so it would make sense.

MMANews.com: What about Frank Shamrock. Do you think he would take a fight with you?

Jake Shields: No. I don't think Frank would fight me. I don't see it happen. That is why I mentioned Lindland and Lawler. They don't dodge anybody. Frank is very careful about picking his fights and I don't think he would fight me.

MMANews.com: What about a guy like Vitor Belfore who moved to 185 in his last fight?

Jake Shields: That would be an interesting fight but I didn't realize he even moved to that weight class. There are a lot of great 185lber's out there and with the UFC having all the great welterweights locked up moving up to middleweight is what will probably happen.

MMANews.com: What are the chances of seeing you in the UFC?

Jake Shields: I have two more fights with EliteXC then I'll check out my situation and see what happens from there.

MMANews.com: Does it bother you moving to 185lbs when you are comfortable at 170lb?

Jake Shields: It bothers me a little bit. I would certainly rather be fighting the likes of GSP and Jon Fitch but that isn't going to happen right now so I need to get my name to the next level and I need to fight big name guys to do that. That's why I want to fight Lindland or Lawler or even Shamrock for that matter but I don't see him coming out and fighting someone like me.

MMANews.com:Do you feel there is a lack of depth and top level talent in EliteXC right now?

Jake Shields: Yeah, They focus too much on guys like Kimbo Slice but it is what it is. They have some really great fighters but they could make the divisions a little thicker.

MMANews.com: You have a gym opening up this weekend, what is the story there?

Jake Shields: It is over in Berkley, one block from the college. We are doing the opening this Saturday. It is going to be a full out MMA gym. You can check it out on my website and my myspace.

MMANews.com: Alright thanks Jake. I appreciate you talking with

Jake Shields: No problem man.


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