Apr 10
22
In an interview with All Headline News Sports, Dana White dropped the quote everyone is talking about with regards to the hottest free agent in the MMA world today: Jake Shields.
“Jake Shields is definitely going to leave Strikeforce,” said White, “and he’s definitely coming to the UFC.”
Technically, Shields is already on UFC TV, albeit in limited fashion. He’s an assistant coach to Chuck Liddell on the current season of The Ultimate Fighter.
Shields has also spoken directly with me about his prospects in the UFC. In an interview I conducted with him for FightPastor.com, Shields talked about fighting Anderson Silva or Georges St. Pierre:
“Of course it’d be exciting to face Silva and GSP. We’ll just have to see what happens.”
He also spoke highly of GSP, while claiming he’d win a fight between the two of them.
“GSP is really well rounded but I think my jiu-jitsu would win it. It’d be an exciting, tough fight.”
Common belief is that while Strikeforce can request Shields defend his title again, Shields has to agree to the fight. Otherwise, he can wait out a 60-day negotiation period and then negotiate a deal with the UFC. Strikeforce would likely have to pay Shields more than they can afford to keep him on in a straight-up salary negotiation, and Shields would probably prefer to fight new, high-level competition in the UFC. Shields was just ranked number 10 on Sherdog.com‘s pound-for-pound rankings, easily making Shields the biggest free agent in the world right now (save for Fedor Emelianenko, who is closer to a mercenary for M-1 than a free agent).