Jake Shields

Jake Shields offcially signed his contract on Monday and now will be making debut against Martin Kampmann at UFC 121 in a welterweight bout.. This is a dangerous fight for Shields to be making his debut against.. Kampmann is coming off a very impressive performance against Paulo Thiago at UFC 115 in Vancouver.. Shields was the Strikeforce Middleweight Champion and had one more fight in his contract and Strikeforce pitted him against Dan Henderson in April, a fight that Strikeforce was hoping that Hendo would beat Shields and lose his leverage against the UFC and have to go back to Strikeforce.. But, Shields not only surprised Strikeforce but the world and beat Henderson via unanamious decision.. For all but the first round, it was all Shields and he pummeled in what was basically Strikeforce's hired gun to beat Shields..

So, the question was now what was Jake Shields going to do? He could stay in Strikeforce and compete in a very deep 185 and fight at 170 every so often or go to the UFC and join the premier organization in the world.. Shields did consider it for awhile but made the decision to sign with the UFC.. He said he was always going to the UFC and in a way I believe him but I think he really did consider staying with Strikeforce..

The reason I think he went to the UFC is number is the fact that it is the UFC.. Secondly, i think that he feels that the UFC presents him with better fights in 185 and 170 and he will get more regognition for the way he fights.. And the way Strikeforce handled the melee after his fight with Henderson and the melee with Mayhem Miller really pushed him more than anything to leave.. I really think that Scott Coker was upset that he got embarassed by the fact his hired gun lost to the champion who was thinking about leaving and sent Miller out there to embarass Shields and it almost worked..

But, the ultimate factor was George St.Pierre.. Shields wants that fight more than anything and GSP stated recently, that Shields is the only guy that he fears on the ground and for GSP to say that is really saying something.. If GSP gets by Koshcheck and Shields looks real impressive, we can see that fight as early as April.. But, more than likely Shields will need 2 victories to get the title shot.. Jake Shields, welcome to the UFC, its long overdue.