After months of waiting for his opportunity, Jake Shields finally got his shot at the vacant Elite XC welterweight championship taking on Bodog Fight welterweight champion Nick Thompson. Shields wasted no time and got the fight to the ground, instantly moving into mount and pounding on Thompson. As Thompson squirmed to escape, Shields found an opening and locked on a guillotine choke that forced Thompson to tap at 1:03 of the first round, making Jake Shields the first Elite XC welterweight champion and the best welterweight outside of the UFC.
PLEASANT HILL, Calif. -- Roughly a month before a sweltering day in mid-June, Jake Shields (Pictures) had suffered a back injury. The injury was not just keeping him from collecting a purse or testing his celebrated ground game against fellow grappler Drew Fickett (Pictures). Something more troubling than the pain in his back was brewing in the frustrated fighter -- he was worried his injury would prevent him from taking EliteXC’s inaugural welterweight strap. READ MORE
When you possess a 20-4-1 overall mixed martial arts record and have defeated your last nine opponents, one would think that you’d be close to a household MMA name. When you’ve won your last nine fights, with the most recent four coming by way of first round stoppage, one would think you’d be describing a current mixed martial arts champion. Finally, when the fighters you’ve defeated along the way have names like Renato Verissimo, Mike Pyle, current WEC Champion Carlos Condit, and current UFC championship contender Yushin Okami, well, you get the point. READ MORE
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 READ MORE.
You’ve never seen him on The Ultimate Fighter or on UFC Pay Per View. He’s never been on Spike TV and never fought in Japan for Pride. Yet the most famous fighters in the world are scared to death of him. He’s Jake Shields and he might just be the best fighter in the world at 170 pounds. They say it’s not always what you know, it’s who you know. For Jake Shields it was a bit of both that got him started on the road to MMA
fortune and fame. "I was in college on a wrestling scholarship in San Luis Obispo. One day I met Chuck Liddel
and he invited me over to his gym,” Shields said. “After only about two weeks I went with a team member to watch him fight. The promoter needed someone to fill in at 185 lbs. I took the fight. For about a year I did it just for fun, to learn some self defence and to stay in shape. Then I started really getting into the training and decided to go for it. I started training hard and fighting at my own weight.”
Shields exploded onto the MMA scene with a huge win over Hayato “Mach” Sakurai for SHOOTO in Japan. At the time, Sakurai was considered a top 3 fighter at 170 pounds and Shields was immediately on the map as a bigtime player at welterweight. more
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Jake Shields Discusses Showtime/Elite XC
Submitted by:Keith Mills
Posted on : 5/29/2007
If this weekend’s "Dynamite" card is viewed as K-1’s pay-per-view and Elite XC’s free Showtime broadcast plus the "dark" matches then it is the Elite XC part of the card that holds almost all the MMA fans’ news. One such fight is Jake Shields’ fight against Ido Pariente.
In the ADCC News archives are multiple updates with Jake throughout his career covering his reign as Shooto Champion, participation in the ADCC ’05 Worlds, experience in the Rumble On the Rock Welterweight tournament, and preparation for BodogFIGHT.
Jake runs the Caesar Gracie affiliate in the Fairtex gym in San Francisco. He trains with Gilbert Melendez, Nick Diaz, Nathan Diaz, and Alex Surdyukov among others.
Jake’s fight in BodogFIGHT Season 3 is archived at Here From Rumble on the Rock Jake’s fight against Carlos Condit is archived at Here and his fight against Dave Menne is Here
Photos of Jake’s fight against Steve Berger last September at Malice At the Palace are posted at Here
...Jakes Shields is most dangerous he has come...his grappling game is very good, his stand up is very good. I think he is one of the most all around fighters out there today... He's very calm, I like that. I like that kind of fighter..... MMA Legend Royce Gracie commentator Bodog Costa Rica
vs. Ray Steinbeiss Bodog Costa Rica vs. Ido Pariente
StrictlyMMA Interview: Elite XC Fighter Jake Shields Written By: William Davis march '07
Jake Shields is an anomaly in Mixed Martial Arts. He’s been able to fight entirely on smaller shows while still getting world wide recognition for his skills. He is almost universally considered to be one of the top fighters in the 170 pound weight class.
Jake took time out of his schedule to discuss his deal with Elite XC, his tournament wins over Yushin Okami and Carlos Condit, and his career as a whole. MORE
SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 9 Hometown boy Jake Shields (Pictures) made a crowd of 6,800 at the Cow Palace proud with a dominating performance over Steve Berger (Pictures) Saturday night.
From the moment the welterweights hit the ground early in the opening stanza, Shields was on Berger like an anaconda . it was obvious that a very skilled fighter had ran into a buzz saw.
Berger, bewildered and confused by the relentless attack, had no chance to mount an offensive of his own. Shortly after the bell for round two sounded Shields slammed Berger and began a ground-and-pound display that forced the referee to call a halt to the contest at the 1:36 mark.
April 21st, 2006 - Shields Wins ROTR Championship Belt
Jake Shields has defeated Yushin Okami and Carlos Condit to become the Rumble on the Rock Grand Prix Champion. Shields first opponent was a very tough fight against Yushin Okami. After a brutal 3 rounds Jake was awarded the decision. Later on in the evening Jake used his ground game to outpositiion Carlos Condit and become the ROTR champ. Frank Trigg was tapped out by Condit early in the first round of their meeting to set up the Condit vs. Shields final.
We spoke with Jake shortly after his win,
"Both guys were tough. I figured Okami would be my toughest fight and I as right. I felt I was the aggressor as I kept going forward to make things happen and he back peddaled alot. The 3rd round was my worst because I pulled guard to try to make something happen and that's where he he landed his best shots. In all my fights this is the 1st time I actually got this banged up and needed stitches. Condit was kinda awkward and it was hard for me since I had just fought a war with Okami and he (Condit) had such a quick victory over Trigg. I want to take some time off now and relax. Maybe one month or so. It's possible I won't be able to do that if I take this grappling supermatch they are trying to put together between me and Marcello Garcia. I'll have to think about things over the next couple of days." -Shields
Janurary 21, 2006
- Shields Defeats Menne in Rumble On The Rock Tourny Jake Shields showed flashes of grappling brilliance in his convincing decision victory over former UFC middleweight champion Dave Menne. Throughout their 15 minutes in the cage Shields shot off Mennexs punches as if he knew exactly when and where they were coming READ MORE. -
Jake Shields is a phenomenal fighter...he does everything right, great all around skills. Powerful kicks and punches set up his seemingly unstoppable takedowns. Unbelievable ground and pound. Jake is non stop, he brings it 24/7, relentlessly pounding to pass. He looks like a python, tearing his opponent apart...going off all over with powerful elbows, knees and punches. Jake is the future of MMA. 01/20/07 Rico Rodriquez Former Heavyweight UFC Champion/ UFC and ROTR TV Commentator
June 13th, 2005 -
Shields ADCC Results
Word is that the DVDs for ADCC 2005 will ship in July, roughly 6 weeks after the event itself. One of many dramatic stories of this show was 66-76 kg division competitor Jake Shields, whose arm was hurt so badly in the second round that he had to tape it up in order to continue, but continue he did. His third round match ended up being a loss to eventual finalist Pablo Popovitch, where Popovitch scored points after taking Shields' back. READ MORE. May 29th, 2005
- Shields & Melendez Article
On paper neither man was to have made it far in this World Series of Grappling Tournaments. Jake was in possibly the toughest middleweight bracket ever assembled and Melendez was an MMA fighter who had only competed once in a submission grappling tournament and was a mere blue belt in the art of Brazilian Jiu-jitsu. READ MORE July 20th, 2004 -
Shields Q & A Jake
Shields recently completed his climb to the top of Shooto
by submitting Ray Cooper and capturing the promotion's
middleweight (167-pound) championship on July 9 in Hawaii.
The bout for the vacant title brought revenge for Shields,
who had dropped a majority decision to Cooper in August
2002. - READ MOREr July 19th, 2004 -
Shields Wins Shooto Middleweight Title The main event of the night started out
action packed with Jake Shields and Ray Cooper exchanging
positions, until Shields was able to capitalize on a mistake
when Cooper allowed Shields to secure a modified back
mount and slip in a rear-naked choke. Shields claimed
the vacant Shooto Middleweight title at 3:30 of the first
round. - Full
Contact Fighter November 2004 - Grappling
Magazine "Jake Shields of Team Cesar Gracie
and a three-time Grapplers Quest West Champion shocked
the grappling world by defeating Leo Santos. Santos was
the top rated grappler in the division and favored to
win the whole thing. After many scambles and submission
attemts, no points had been scored... Shields saw an opportunity
and locked on the inverted heel hook and cranked away.
Santos gutted it out, but Shields earned the win by advantage." April
2003 - FightSport "Shields lifted Sakurai up &
slammed him to the mat twice. Sakurai gradually lost speed
after that." March 2003 - Joe
Hall / Ultimate Athlete
"He is one of only three men in the world to
do it...UFC Welter weight Champion Matt Hughes, Shute
boxe standout Annderson Silva and now, Jake Shields...joins
the select group of fighters to have beaten Japanese superstar
Hayato Sakurai... Shields is ready to do more than "hang"
with the best in the world at 170 lbs. He's ready to jump
in the mix and carve a corner out of the top 10. Jake
Shields, remember that name."
