Roundtable: Where Should Jake Shields Fight Next

Roundtable: Where Should Jake Shields Fight Next

With news breaking earlier this week that top 10 welterweight Jake Shields had been release from the UFC, Kingdom MMA writers Chris Houten, Chris Marzella, and Alex Dillon take a look at what the future may hold for Jake Shields.

Chris Houten - @Mrhouts
The UFC is the best organisation for mixed martial arts in the world, the same way the English premier league is arguably the best football league in the world, therefore both should be made up of the best of the best. In the case of the premier league, you would expect to see the best teams in the league, the same way you would expect to see the best fighters signed to the UFC. In the premier league the 3 worse teams go down, while boring to watch teams like Stoke City hang around because they did what they had to get the victories..... boring or not.  Why? Because football is a sport first and foremost, where the best compete against each other.

Jake Shields is the Stoke City of MMA, no one really wants to watch him, but if the UFC is truly a sport and the biggest league in its sports, then surely entertainment shouldn't come into it and we shouldn't even be having this conversation.

If Jake Shields is looking at his future beyond fighting then the offer from newly formed Titan FC his manager Lex McMahon mention on the MMA hour on Monday which includes equity might be the way Shields goes. He could may also consider ONE FC who by all accounts were willing to pay more than anyone else for similarly boring Ben Askren. From a competitive stand point though I'd like see Shields join WSOF where the best Welterweights outside the UFC reside. With the like of Palharus, Fitch, and Burkman as well as former champ Steve Carl, there is there is enough tough guys in World Series of Fighting to keep Jake Shields fighting at a competitive level and if he is still interested in competing for glory I expect WSOF to be his next home.

Chris Marzella - @ChrisMarzella
Once again we find ourselves talking about a guy firmly in the upper bracket of title contenders being cut. We've had Jon Fitch, Yushin Okami and now Jake Shields. The thing with Shields is his record. Look at the list of guys he has beaten recently. Tyron Woodley, Demian Maia, both guys who have been discussed as title challengers themselves. Shields was brutalised by Hector Lombard but I really don't think that lowers his stock much at all.

You need to look at what's best for Jake now. Does he want the biggest and best fights? Or does he want to make a quick buck? He's 35-years-old now and will probably have one big contract left in him at this point. I can't see him heading to Bellator because quite frankly their welterweight division isn't worth much at all. Without wanting to sound disrespectful, theor 170-pound division is so far below Shields level it's scary.

The more exciting prospect is seeing him head on over to the World Series of Fighting and into a budding 170-pound division with exciting, credible challenges for him. Palhares, Burkman, Fitch, Carl. The welterweights is one division WSOF can use as its flagship weightclass and would be a perfect fit for Shields.

Outside of those two there is always of a one off with Ben Askren over at One FC.but then again, where does he go after that fight.

I for one am hoping to see Jake Shields in an WSOF cage in the near future.

Alex Dillon - @_alexdillon_
If I could sum up Jake Shields’ UFC run in one word it would have to be ‘disappointing’. Before his UFC stint, he defeated elite level fighters such as Dan Henderson, Robbie Lawler and Carlos Condit which certainly had me thinking this guy could actually beat GSP when the time came. Ever since that fight he’s been on and off squeaking through fights with a few split decisions so to speak. There could also be the argument that he ‘peaked’ a long time ago and just didn’t have it anymore once he arrived in the UFC.

Dana wasn’t wrong when he recently referred to him as just ‘another guy’ in my eyes he’s not someone who can sell a UFC PPV or even put bums on seats for a Fight Night card.

So where does he go from here? Well the obvious route in my opinion is WSOF, you’ve got Rousimar Palhares who’s the 170lb champion there as well as Jon Fitch who’s the #1 contender. Two really intriguing match ups for Shields, both are elite BJJ guys just like Shields. On a more interesting note, Shields never managed to face either in the UFC so WSOF have a selling point already. Shields will also undoubtedly get a good contract there as well as opportunities to fight for the Welterweight belt so I can’t see a better option for him going forward.

Can Rory MacDonald emerge from GSP's shadow?

With GSP gone for now, can Rory MacDonald take the limelight?

by Chris Marzella @ChrisMarzella

There is but one man who could stand to benefit from the recent semi-retirement of the longtime UFC welterweight king Georges St.Pierre.
Rory "Ares" MacDonald was the long time protégé of GSP. Always living in his shadow, taking a back seat to, quite frankly, the greatest welterweight of all time.
As GSP sails off into the sunset, at least for now, MacDonald now finds himself in a position where he can legitimately make a run at the UFC title.
For as long as St.Pierre ruled at 170-pounds, MacDonald would always be an after thought when you think of Canadian fighters, hell even Tristar fighters, and was certainly firmly behind the eight ball when it came to the UFC's consideration of top contenders due to his and GSP's unwillingness to get in the octagon and fight.
Now with the path clear MacDonald can re-focus himself and finally attempt to get his hands on the title so familiar to all at Tristar.
The first step in his attempt to bounce back from his split decision loss to title contender Robbie Lawler begins this Saturday night as he gets set to take on Demian Maia at UFC 170.
Perhaps the one criticism levelled at MacDonald on too many occasions is what seems to be his willingness to "play it safe" and play a point scoring game. Dana White recently publicly slated Alistair Overeem for doing the very same thing in his victory over Frank Mir at UFC 169 and it is that type of performance which could very well hold back the 24-year-old Canadian.
It would seem then that MacDonald has some way to go before he can convince the powers that be that he is the man to get a crack at either Johny Hendricks or Robbie Lawler. A Lawler win at UFC 171 against Hendricks for the vacant title would push MacDonald further away from that precious number one contender spot given the manner of his win over MacDonald.
A win however, is far from a foregone conclusion on Saturday night. Maia himself was edging close to title contention since his move from middleweight until he was dominated by Jake Shields at UFC Fight Night 29 last October.
What Saturday night does present for MacDonald is his first opportunity to realistically stake his claim for consideration to be a future UFC welterweight title contender.
A door that has always seemed firmly shut has suddenly opened and with GSP offering no definite retirement, it could be the case that MacDonald must impress now and get his opportunity before St.Pierre returns to claim back his crown.
A move away from the recent technical performances and a shift towards a win with riskier, more offensive strategy could see him catapulted back towards the top spot, a win of any kind will still be a huge feather in the cap, a loss pushes a title shot to one side at least for now.
If MacDonald ever had aspirations for the title then UFC 170 is the time to begin planning a route to his chance.
UFC 170 takes place Saturday 22nd February from the Mandalay Bay Events Center, Las Vegas.

Kingdom MMA Awards 2013: Worst Fight of the year

Kingdom MMA Worst Fight of the Year Award 2013: Soa Palalei vs Nikita Krylov

by Ben Heather @benheather

Although 2013 has been a great year for MMA it has also had a few stinkers. So this is the wooden spoon award of the year. Thankfully for us all this was actually quite a hard award to think of a winner for because we really have been treated to some amazing fights in 2013.

However, we had three contenders which were put forward as the worst fight of the year, our first contender was the fight between Jake Shields and Tyron Woodley at UFC 161 where the pair clinched for most of the fight in which Shields failed to get Woodley to the floor in the first two rounds alone with a staggering 11 attempts. The fight was either spent tied up in the clinch or pushed up against the side of the cage but nothing of serious note happened. All in all a stinker of a fight. However, Shawn Jordan must have been watching and gave the fans something to cheer about as he knocked out Pat Barry within a minute in the next fight.

Then in July Rory MacDonald vs Jake Ellenberger met at UFC on FOX 8 was certainly a fight with very little happening during the fight. Rory was waiting for Ellenberger to make the move and when he did, did just enough to win the fight without doing much in the process. Thankfully Demetrious Johnson vs John Moraga came on after that fight and put on a show for the fans to make them rightfully forget that fight ever happened.

Our winner though comes from UFC 164 at the end of August when Soa Palelei faced off against Nikita Krylov. Before the fight both guys had impressive records, Soa was returning to the UFC after a one fight stint years before and Nikita was making his debut in the UFC so both really wanted to impress..... unfortunately for both men and us fans that did not happen on this night. The fans were instead treated to over 11 minutes of fighting between two clearly gassed fighters before Soa put Nikita out of his misery and picked up the TKO win. Soa however announced after the fight that he went in to the fight with an injury, having suffered a fractured rib the week of the fight which led to him putting on a lack luster performance.

Thankfully Soa made up for this recently as the UFC returned to his home nation and he quickly knocked out Pat Barry making people forget all about his previous fight.

We are sorry to do this, but the award for worst fight of 2013 goes to Soa Palelei vs Nikita Krylov. Please forgive us and we hope to see you perform well again in 2014.

Johny Hendricks Meets Robbie Lawler For The Vacant UFC Welterweight Belt

Who will be crowned the new UFC Welterweight Champion? and is this the right match up?

by Tommy Strong @strong_tea

With the news that current UFC Welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre will vacate his title and take an indefinite leave of absence from the sport. Everyone was wondering, what would happen next?

Well, in true Dana White style it wasn't long before we found out!  Dana announced soon after that Johny Hendricks would be fighting Robbie Lawler for the vacant Welterweight bout which will be the main event for UFC 171, taking place in Dallas, Texas on the 15th March 2014.

Hendricks (15-2 MMA,10-2 UFC) who probably still can't believe he isn't already the welterweight champion after losing in controversial fashion to GSP in a razor thin split decision only last month at UFC 167. However, the news of this title shot surely would've eased the pain of that loss, knowing he will have the chance once again to win the title, this time in his own backyard!!

Many felt a little surprised that the opportunity would fall at the feet of Robbie Lawler (22-9-1 MMA,7-3UFC) having fought in Strikeforce prior and having a 3-5 record in his 8 fights with the organisation, you would've had to be mystic meg to try and predict what would happen next!!

He'd enter the UFC and in doing so, moving down from middleweight to welterweight, he'd  knock out the durable Josh Koscheck inside the first round on his return, following that up with a stunning KO over Bobby Voelker. Then to top things off being matched up with the fighter that many believed would go onto emulate GSP one day, and hold the welterweight belt for years to come. Lawler put on one of this best performances to date with a clinical display outscoring Rory MacDonald to win via split decision at UFC 167 in November.

Lets be honest here,  we've seen a fair few 'undeserving' title fights over the years, and more recently Chael Sonnen getting a title shot at light heavyweight when the last time he fought there was 2005!!
Yes you could make arguments for a few other fighters to get their chance, but here and now this is in my eyes is the perfect match up!

Lets look at a few other fighters in the frame:

Carlos Condit: 
Coming off Losses to GSP for the title and then Johny Hendricks more recently, it would be hard to gift him a title shot after getting back to winning ways beating Martin Kampmann via TKO.
A win against a Tyron Woodley will surely put him back into title contention.

Rory MacDonald: 
If he'd beaten Robbie Lawler there's no doubt we would've seen Hendricks vs MacDonald! Though this defeat is a setback for the young man! Up next for Rory is a really tough battle when he faces Demian Maia at UFC 170.

Jake Ellenberger: 
Seems to be the 'nearly man' Super talented fighter who just come up short when he's been in great positions. More recently losing via unanimous decision to Rory MacDonald in what will go down as a stinker. He's a couple fights away from being in the mix.

Jake Shields: 
Could arguably be in the frame if not for failing a drugs test after defeating Ed Herman at UFC 150. Though this was at middleweight he would've now been on a 4 fight winning streak since losing back to back fights against GSP (for the title) and Jake Ellenberger.

Since returning from his ban, Jake has done what he does best, grinds wins out with victories over Tyron Woodley and Demian Maia both via split decision.

The biggest downfall for Jake is his style of fighting which doesn't appeal to the masses.

Matt Brown: 
The guy I feel for the most here. Brown scheduled to fight Carlos Condit only this week had to pull out due to an injury, will now see the chances of him getting closer to that title shot fading away. Now Carlos has a fight with Tyron Woodley lined up, where does this leave Brown who is currently sat on a 6 fight winning streak?!!

I for one hope he gets a fight that pushing him closer to the title and up the rankings! Jake Ellenberger?

Whether you agree or disagree with Hendricks vs Lawler fighting for the vacant welterweight belt, I think there is one thing we will all agree upon.....

With two southpaws who love to throw bombs and both posses frightening punching power we can only imagine this fight isn't going the distance!!!

Josh Koscheck vs Tyron Woodley UFC 167

ANOTHER WELTERWEIGHT BATTLE ADDED TO UFC 167
By Tommy Strong @strong_tea

UFC 167 adds another welterweight bout to its card. With the news that Josh Koscheck will face Tyron Woodley on November 16th 2013.

Josh Koscheck (19-7) was scheduled to fight Damien Maia in August at UFC 163, but was forced to pull out due to an injury. Josh will now get the chance to redeem himself after losing his last two fights , a split decision to Johny Hendricks and more recently a 1st round defeat in February to Robbie Lawler.

His opponent Tyron Woodley (11-2) made a spectacular UFC debut in February with a 1st round victory knocking out Jay Hieron in 36 seconds. Though it was polar opposite when he faced Jake Shields in June 2013 losing a split decision in one of the worst fights I've seen to date.

This fight could go one of two way, either be a barn burner or a contender for worst fight of the year!
Lets hope both fighters turn up to entertain the fans!

UFC 167 will be headlined by welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre vs Johny Hendricks, also confirmed for the card will see another welterweight bout between Rory MacDondald vs Robbie Lawler.

Jake Shields vs Tyron Woodley Target for UFC 161 in Canada

A Welterweight match up between one time UFC title challenger, Jake Shields 27-6-1 MMA, 2-2 UFC), and Tyron Woodley (11-1 MMA, 1-0 UFC) is in the works for the summer.

The fight is being targeted for a yet-unnamed event, likely UFC 161, on June 15 in Canada. A host city is not yet finalised.

Woodley who started his career a perfect 10-0 before losing to Nate Marquardt in a bout for the vacant Strikeforce Welterweight title following Nick Diaz's departure to The UFC, holds notable wins over Paul Daley and Jordan Mein, and impressed in his UFC debut where he knocked out former Bellator tournament winner, and IFL Champion Jay Hieron after just 36 second of the first round.

Shields (pictured), a former Strikeforce Middleweight Champion, makes his return to Welterweight after a decision over 185-pound vet Ed Herman at UFC 150 in Denver. However the victory was later overturned when the Gracie fight team member tested positive for a banned substance.

For more on the UFC 161 fightcard, go to the Calendar section on our site.