Jake Shields talks Gracie Fighting Championships 2007

Submitted by: Keith Mills

On January 20th the Gracie Fighting Championship hold their first of four scheduled shows for ’07, this one at the American Airlines Arena in Miami, Florida. One of the main events is current Rumble on the Rock Welterweight Champion and Abu Dhabi ’05 Worlds vet Jake Shields facing UFC vet Renato “Charuto” Verissimo.

Both fighters were in the ROTR tournament last year but Verissimo lost in the first round to Carlos Condit while Jake beat former UFC Champion Dave Menne in his first round in January. Jake went on to beat Yushin Okami and Carlos Condit in the second and third round held in April while on that same show Renato lost to Kuniyoshi Hironaka. To give you an idea of what that tournament meant Dave Menne and Anderson Silva both lost in the first round and have since fought in the UFC with Silva moving up to Middleweight and taking the title.

Several updates with Jake are in the ADCC News archives. Photo galleries of Jake’s fight against Steve Berger are posted at http://malarky.udel.edu/~keith/2006/MAP/map09090611.htm.

KM: How did you get involved with Gracie Fighting Championship? JS: It was through Cesar (Gracie). They contacted Cesar and came up with a good offer I liked. Originally they offered me Frank Trigg but for whatever reason he kept holding off on signing and as soon as I signed to fight (Renato) Charuto (Verissimo) they he went on the show. So far it looks like it is going to be great so I am excited about it.

KM: You were supposed to fight on the World Fighter show until it was cancelled or postponed and now this one is close to that date. How do you feel about the change in shows? JS: I was never one-hundred percent sure about the World Fighter, it sounded too good to be true. They did give me a signing bonus so I didn’t lose of the show. It probably held me back more than I wanted to. I think he meant well but things just got too big too fast.

KM: I expect more of that this year. Any advice you can give the fighters about what to watch out for? JS: It is a tough call. Look into who the guys are and what they are offering. Obviously money up front is always nice so the World Fighter fell through but at least I got my signing bonus.

KM: How do you feel about fighting Charuto? JS: I’m excited. He is a good fighter and a tough guy to beat. I’m training my ass off right now so I’m in the best shape of my life. I got a ton of boxing finally so my hands are starting to come together, my conditioning is good, and I’m ready for a war. I’m not one-hundred percent sure but I think there is a good chance I’m going to go out there and try to display some hands. You never know what is going to happen and obviously I’m not against taking him down because I’m strong there. My initial gameplan is to go out there and bang a little bit and see what happens. Hopefully I can go out there and get a knockout. I’m definitely planning on bringing the pace to him.

KM: What did you think of his fights in Rumble on the Rock? You were both in the two last year. Did you get a chance to see his fights? JS: I didn’t think he looked that good there. He looked a little soft and got caught with a knee. When I watch his old fights he looked great so I’m prepared for Charuto in his best form. If he is hungry for it and training right he is a great fighter. We’ll see what kind of training he is doing.

KM: With ROTR’s J.D. Penn now doing EliteXC is it accurate to still call you the ROTR Champion? JS: As far as I know. I think ROTR are changing over to that Showtime show so they are changing their name but I don’t know if I’m going to hold the title to that.

KM: I find it ironic you were supposed to fight in World Fighter but that fell apart because they didn’t get the Showtime contract and now the guys who did get the Showtime contract have as a matchmaker a guy whose Welterweight belt you own. To top it off you are next fighting a guy who was in the same ROTR tournament as you even if it is in a different show. JS: Exactly. Either way it works for me and obviously my manager is talking to them.

KM: I’m wondering if you are going to end up with EliteXC. JS: I’m talking to a lot of shows, trying to be patient and look at my options. There are a lot of options for fighters out there right now. UFC is obviously a great show and I want to go fight for them but I want to go in there under terms I think are fair too.

KM: What is it going to take to nail you down? JS: A good offer. I’m starting to get offers I like so I think really soon I’m going to be on free TV on whatever show. GFC made a great offer too, they are taking care of me.

KM: Are you taking one fight at a time right now? JS: As of now but I’d sign a multi-fight deal if it was good, I just don’t want to get a multi-fight deal if it is not good. The money is shooting up so much right now it is a tough time where you really have to pay attention what you lock yourself into.

KM: Seeing you fight in Hawaii, California, and now Miami I was joking I thought a stipulation might be ‘warm weather’ or ‘proximity to beaches’. JS: Exactly. I want to go fight in the warmth. Hearing this was in Miami definitely helped lock it in. (Both laugh). I have never been to Miami so don’t know much about it but all my friends have said it is a blast. I go out there, kick some ass, and have a good place to party afterwards.

KM: How did Gilbert’s fight in Pride go from your point of view? JS: It was a hell of a war. I was really happy seeing him over there even though the injuries before the fight. It made me worried before the fight. It almost pulled him out of the fight but we pulled him out of the fight before and with Pride there is no way you can pull him out of two fights. Under the circumstances I thought he did great. I was worried before the fight but he pulled it out.

KM: You have been training together for a couple years now. How did you meet? JS: We wrestled together at San Francisco State when I came up. I was already training at Cesar’s and started to drag him along. Once he had seen how good jiu-jitsu was he got into it from there.

KM: Would there be a Jake Shields without a Gilbert Melendez? JS: When I am training my ass off he definitely gives me that push. It is hard finding training partners day in and day out. I got other guys like Nick Diaz but he lives an hour to an hour and a half from me and David Terrell is kind of missing in action.

KM: You train with Nick and Nathan Diaz. Nick is also on this GFC card. What does it mean to you to have someone besides Gilbert you train with also on this card? Is it a distraction, motivation, or does it relax you? JS: I’d say it doesn’t relax me. Me and Nick train together a lot, we get along really well, we are the same weight and training partners…we have been trying to meet up more. An extra teammate there is definitely a plus.

KM: We talked about your reign as Shooto Champion before but now that you have tasted more success what does that experience mean in perspective of now? JS: It was a big honor to go in there and take the Shooto title. I was the first American to do it and it was a good experience to go over and fight in Japan.

KM: That ended about two years ago. Also given Gilbert made it to #1 ranked in his weight but never got the title shot what do you think of it now? Where would you put it on your resume in comparison to your other achievements? JS: I think it is definitely an important thing and will always be on my resume. I’ll probably never fight in Shooto but it is a legitimate title and something I’ll always be proud of. Obviously I want to move on to UFC or Pride or the other big shows but it will always be on my resume.

KM: What I’m getting at is Shooto isn’t really known to the newer fans be we respect them. I didn’t know how that would rank to one who knows in comparison to for instance your performance in the Abu Dhabi ’05 Worlds, the ROTR belt, or even beating UFC vet Steve Berger in Malice at the Palace. JS: It is a tough call. I had to earn both the ROTR and Shooto belts. I don’t think one is above the other, I think it evens out.

KM: That ROTR tournament was your first tournament. JS: Yeah, that wasn’t too fun. I’m proud of it but don’t want to do too many more. Maybe one more tournament but two fights in one night is tough, especially when my first fight was Okami and that was a war. I was really zapped and had another after that.

KM: You won the tournament in April and then went five months before the fight with Berger. Now you went another four months before this fight. Basically you have had one fight in the last nine months. How do you feel about that amount of time off? JS: After ROTR I wanted a little break, I was kind of beat up and trained hard for that. I think this year will be the year for me and then hopefully in two years slow it back down to two fights a year. Two to three fights a year would be ideal but I’ll do four or five fights to establish myself and takes some titles, then I can slow it down.

KM: In the context of ROTR, ADCC, and Shooto how do you look back at fighting Steve Berger now? JS: It was a good fight and he is a tough guy but he doesn’t have the tools to beat me. He is a good middle of the guys I’ve fought against. He is a tough guy but I’ve fought tougher guys than that.

KM: To what extent was that keeping the ring rust off? JS: I was actually already talking to World Fighter so I was more doing that to stay active but then the World Fighter fell through.

KM: You are known in your career more than the average fighter for going after the fighters with reputations, you don’t just fight who you think is easy for the money. JS: I’m not going out there and beating up a bunch of guys and saying how good I am. I’m going out there to fight the best fighters and see if I can beat them. St. Pierre, BJ Penn, Matt Hughes…I want to shoot for the top.

KM: With your own gym and daughter how much does fighting dominate your time? JS: It completely dominates my time; my life is based around fighting. I like to go out and hang out and do other things but basically everything I do revolves around my fights like training fighters, going to fights, cornering other people…it is a full-time job for me. In-between fights I take off somewhere for a week or ten days but then I come right back into teaching.

KM: How is the gym going? JS: Beautifully. I got a ton of students, most of them new. I run a jiu-jitsu and MMA school so it is really blowing up. If I wanted to I could concentrate full-time on running that and make a fine living but I definitely want to fight first. I’m at a max load. I have a six year old daughter and enough in my life.

KM: How do you find the balance between teacher, fighter, and father? JS: I really have to schedule my training and my time to pick up my daughter, they have to be totally balanced and there isn’t a lot of slack time. I train, take my nap, pick up my daughter from school, hang out with her, go back to train…luckily I have a lot of energy so I’m able to stay active. I have a good time with my daughter but always feel I don’t have enough.

KM: Given your success and emphasis on MMA how do you look back at the Abu Dhabi ’05 Worlds now? JS: It was a great tournament. I wish I would have won it but it was still a great experience competing against the best in the world. I didn’t do bad for third. I’m competitive and not happy I didn’t’ win but it was a great experience.

KM: What about this year? JS: I have to decide whether to do it or not depending on what my fight schedule is. Obviously a big fight would have to come before Abu Dhabi but I’d I want to do Abu Dhabi between my fights.

KM: Sponsors to thank? JS: Tapout and Fairtex.

For more information on Jake check out www.jakeshields.com or www.graciefighter.com. For more on the Gracie Fighting Championships check out www.gfcfighter.com.