Tuesday afternoon, Cesar Gracie awarded Jake Shields his Gracie Jiu-jitsu Blackbelt. ProElite.com spoke to him shortly after achieving this major accomplishment.

Jake, first off, congratulations on this major achievement.
Thanks

How many years have you been training in BJJ? How long have you been with Cesar?

I started submission grappling with Chuck Liddell and Scott Adams in 1999 and spent about 2 year with them. Then 6.5yrs of BJJ under Cesar Gracie. Prior to that I’d been wrestling for about 10yrs, so I’ve been involved in grappling for close to 20yrs.

How did the ceremony go down & who was there?

Cesar showed up to Fairtex [where Shields teaches BJJ & MMA] and awarded me my belt. Of course I got my whipping, but we train no-gi so there were no belts around. Instead of whipping with belts, I got belly slaps. Right now I have a lot of red welts on my stomach. But hey, it’s my last belt, so I’ll take the pain. [laughing]
Nick Diaz, Nate Diaz, Gil Melendez, most of my students, Brandon Vera and most of his students were there, so there were a lot of people there.

What inspired you to do jiu-jitsu?

Being a wrestler, I watched the old UFCs and saw Royce Gracie. He’d be tapping out everybody including all the wrestlers. So I’d have to credit Royce Gracie. As soon as I saw that, I wanted to do it.
I saw that Chuck’s gym [SLO Kickboxing] taught submissions so I started learning it. It wasn’t pure BJJ over there, but it was good. Then I moved to San Francisco and saw Ceasar’s guys, like Dave Terrell, tearing up the competition at tournaments, and Ceasr’s system is pure BJJ so I went there.

How has jiu-jitsu made a positive impact on your life?

In so many ways… I love training. I love the discipline and the focus. It’s helped me get my life together.
In my career, BJJ is my base of fighting. I’m cross trained in Muay Thai, boxing, wrestling, etc. But BJJ is the base of my fighting style. So it’s helped my life in countless ways.

What's favorite grappling memory (outside of today)?

There are so many, but probably the Abu Dhabi Combat Championships. The whole tourney was a great experience. Hopefully next year there will be no conflict with my schedule and I will be able to compete in it again and win.

What BJJ victory meant the most to you?

I’ve had wins over a bunch of top guys, so there isn’t a specific BJJ victory that stands out to me.
In just a straight jiu-jitsu match, who is the most talent guy you've ever faced in BJJ?
In competition, it is a tie between Saulo Ribeiro and Marcelo Garcia. Overall, including training and all that, the guy that really stands out as the most talented is David Terrell.

Would you like a rematch with Marcelo Garcia in grappling? Or if he continues transitioning to MMA would you like to fight him under those rules?

I’d love to fight him in grappling. I have ton of respect for him, but at 0-1 in his MMA career, I have no reason to fight him in MMA.
Marcelo is the best pound-for-pound grapplers in the world, and I would love to have another grappling fight with him

So you plan to continue competitive grappling?

Yes. There is more money in MMA fighting, so lots of my focus is there. But I love grappling and so I will definitely continue to compete. When I am done with my MMA career, I will still be grappling competitively.