By Michael Owens
There was some shock when the UFC announced the release of former Strikeforce middleweight champion Jake Shields. The 35-year-old had lost his first fight in four and was an established top contender. He had even pushed GSP as close as anyone had before Johnny Hendricks. However, even though the best should always fight the best – and Shields is one of the best around – his removal from the roster is more than justified.
In the modern-day UFC there are hundreds of fighters so boy, you had better stand out from the crowd if you intend to make your mark. Most of the highest paid fighters do just that – earning their keep with scintillating knockouts, wild wars and crushing submissions. Shields came into the promotion with a big contract, a 14-fight win streak and a reputation as a submission specialist but he has done none of those things. A fighter on a big wage has to be on the main card of some big events and as much as MMA is a sport and not an entertainment product, the UFC cannot afford boring fighters stinking up the joint on the occasions where they will reach the biggest audiences.
Not all of Shields’s fights were awful, but the majority were. He was practically guaranteed a title shot if he could make it past Martin Kampmann in his UFC debut back in October 2010 but that was so awful there were a lot of people calling for an alternate. The Akiyama and Ed Herman wins were less than inspiring. Worse, the Herman win was overturned for some bad drug business. The Tyron Woodley fight? One of the worst high-level fights in living memory and a rip-off for Woodley. The Maia fight was better, but still far from electrifying. Worse still it knocked off a valuable contender that looked like he could be marching towards the top of a 170 pound division which was beginning a major transition.
The only time Shields has been involved in anything exciting in the last four years was when he was getting smashed around the Octagon. Unfortunately – as we saw in the Hector Lombard fight last month – he’s so durable fighters become scared to engage with him due to their fear of getting humped to death.
Again, I’m all for the purity of competition in the sport and I’d much rather watch 15 minutes of a tactical battle that two no-names swinging for the fences until one of them falls over. However, I’ve had enough of Jake Shields throwing feeble leg kicks, grabbing a leg or body lock and dragging his opponent to the mat where NOTHING ELSE HAPPENS. I’m lucky enough to live in a country where I don’t have to pay to watch a UFC pay-per-view event, but if I did I’d be fuming if I had to sit through 15-25 minutes of quicksand takedowns and blanket behaviour. At this point in time with a decline in sales but a an expanding reach across globe there can be no room for this kind of damage to the product. I’m not saying I want a roster full of Leonard Garcias, but you can give me Matt Brown unleashing hell any day
