Jake Shields reflects on UFC debut, eyes title fight with GSP
Jake Shields’ arrival into the Ultimate Fighting Championships was arguably the most hyped and keenly expected arrival of new talent into the UFC since the fall of the Pride Fighting Championships in 2007.
The fighter, who hasn’t lost since in 15 fights and managed to capture the EliteXC welterweight (170lb) championship before moving up to face tougher competition at middleweight (185lb), winning the Strikeforce
championship, made his UFC debut on Saturday at UFC 121. There he came in as 2/5 favourite against number seven ranked Martin Kampmann, back at his old weight of 170lb.
But instead of rolling through him like many had predicted, Shields struggled mightily, tired out badly after the first round, and barely ground out a split decision. He’s still in line to get a title shot
against the winner of Georges St-Pierre (“GSP”) and Josh Koscheck, but said he wasn’t happy with his performance.
"I understand it wasn't my best performance,” said Shields to mmajunkie.com’s online radio show. He said it was bad enough that he understood if UFC president Dana White took away his promised title shot.
"It's up to Dana," he said. "But I'll do whatever. Of course, I really want that title shot. But if he decides otherwise, I'll happily fight whoever he wants.”
The problem? Shields, who’d fought his last three fights once at a weight of 182lb and then twice at 185lb had huge issues cutting enough weight to make the welterweight limit.
"I'm certainly not happy for doing something so stupid," said Shields. "I embarrassed myself doing that, and I don't plan on doing it again."
It wasn’t just Shields who was disappointed. UFC colour commentator Joe Rogan noted throughout the fight that Shields was completely drained, and White, who is known for demanding high levels of professionalism
from his fighters, had harsh words for Shields.
"No matter how much weight he cut and whatever he did, that's his fault," White said to mmajunkie.com. "That's his stupidity. He's been in the game for a long time, so I don't like to use any of that stuff,
but the reality is I do know what he did, and I know he won't make those dumb mistakes next time."
Cutting weight is the process of dehydrating the body before weigh-ins to lose water weight, and then hydrating immediately after. While it can give fighters an advantage because after rehydrating they can
enter the cage frequently 15lb or more above the official weigh-in limit, it can also have negative effects on a fighter’s endurance and agility if they dehydrate too much. Shields stated he had to cut over 20lb in one day, a huge amount for most fighters.
The solution will be to shed a few pounds of muscle and come in leaner and lighter for his next fight, allowing him to trade off weight for cardio.
"I think I'll be much better off with three or four pounds less muscle and be able to use it instead of have that muscle be so tired that it's not working," he said.
His next fight will come against the champion, whether it be GSP or Koscheck, who fights in December. GSP is often called the best pound-for-pound fighter on the planet, and is entering the cage as a 5-1
favourite. And despite the daunting challenge that fighting the French Canadian poses, Shields said his hope was GSP would remain champion, so he’d get the opportunity to fight the growing legend.
"I would much rather take it from GSP because he's the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world right now, in my opinion," he said. "Koscheck is a phenomenal fighter, but right now it's a little more prestigious
to beat GSP."
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