By MATT BOONE
MMANEWS.COM Staff Writer
GracieFighter.com, the official website for the Cesar Gracie fighters (Jake Shields, Gilbert Melendez, Nick & Nate Diaz, etc.) recently posted an update clarifying which weight division the former Strikeforce middleweight champion will be occupying upon his debut with the UFC, a move in itself that has yet to be officially acknowledged by the promotion.
The article claims that after consulting with UFC officials Shields was convinced to drop back down to 170 pounds for his spot in the company, despite scoring his highest profile win at 185 pounds (and arguably his biggest career win to date) against legendary middleweight (and light heavyweight) MMA star Dan Henderson back in April.
The GracieFighter.com story also noted that Shields will jump right into the mix as he's fighting someone the website labeled a “UFC top contender.” That narrows the field pretty well considering Matt Hughes, Ricardo Almeida, Jon Fitch, Thiago Alves and Josh Koscheck are already tied up. Georges St-Pierre himself could hardly be referred to as a contender, considering he's the champion of the division. That doesn't leave room for many “top” contenders, although there are still plenty of highly regarded 170 pound fighters outside of the aforementioned six fighters.
MMA die-hard fans are already speculating on who Shields will meet in his first ever octagon appearance in current ongoing discussion in the MMANEWS.com Forums. Feel free to enter the madness and share your two cents by clicking here.
As soon as more information on Shields' UFC debut and the identity of his opponent is revealed, we'll have the update for you right here at MMANEWS.com.