With high expectations for WSOF, Jake Shields has 'no plans' for UFC return

Jake Shields admits he was surprised and somewhat disappointed by news of his UFC release. But now that he’s officially signed a four-fight deal with WSOF, he has high expectations for the future.

“I’m excited,” Shields told MMAjunkie. “This is a great organization with a lot of good things moving forward. It’s moving in the right direction and they have a great staff. I’m really excited to be part of the team.”

Shields (29-7-1) says his WSOF debut could come as soon as July, which would be the ideal turnaround after a disappointing effort against Hector Lombard at UFC 171 in March. That bout was his last in the UFC before he was cut from the organization.

While the 35-year-old says he didn’t see the release coming due to his four-fight unbeaten streak against some legitimate opponents, he is maintaining a positive attitude about the future.

“I was a little surprised,” Shields said. “I figured all you can do is move forward. Everyone started contacting me when the news came out and I signed with World Series really fast.”

“I didn’t really think [I would be cut] because I was coming off a big win streak off of several top-10 opponents. It is what it is. It’s the decision they made. All you can do is go with it and move my career forward from here.”

Shields fought six of the top 15 fighters ranked in the latest USA TODAY Sports/MMAjunkie.com MMA welterweight rankings during his UFC tenure, putting to together a modest 3-3 record against those foes.

While his performance in his most recent bout against Lombard was clearly a letdown, Shields says he doesn’t have any regrets about his UFC career. He earned a world championship fight in front of record crowd at UFC 129 in Toronto, and despite not coming out a winner, he gave former UFC champion Georges St-Pierre one of the toughest challenges of his long title reign.

So after doing what countless UFC fighters haven’t and reaching a world title fight, Shields says his signing with WSOF isn’t the first step in a road back to the UFC, but instead it’s a new beginning for his career.

“I’ve got no plans of going back there,” Shields said. “Ultimately I wanted to go in there and fight Georges St-Pierre and I got to fight him and fought him in front of what is still the largest crowd at a UFC event. That was a great experience. Obviously I would have liked things to have been different, but overall I can’t complain too much. Anything’s possible, but right now, I’m excited for my future with World Series of Fighting.”

UFC President Dana White explained his reason for releasing Shields as partly financial and partly because he felt the former Strikeforce champion was on the downside of his career. The American was reportedly due to make $120,000 with a win in his next fight.

A lot of athletes would be bitter to lose out on such a significant payday, but Shields is taking the high road. He obviously isn’t ecstatic about White’s comments on his pay and decline as a fighter, however, he says he holds no ill will toward anyone at the UFC.

“It definitely seems a little unfair,” Shields said. “I’m not going to have any bad blood. It’s pointless to hold resentment, but yeah, I’m certainly not thrilled by their decision.”

So with the UFC portion of his career likely over for good after more than three years with the organization, Shields is excited to test his skills against an entirely new crop of competition in WSOF.

Of all the non-UFC fight promotions around the globe, Shields feels that WSOF arguably has the best welterweight division, which was the primary reason behind his decision to sign with the budding company.

“I felt like they have the strongest welterweight division,” Shields said. “Right away I was thinking [Jon] Fitch, [Rousimar] Palhares, [Josh] Burkman, guys like that. Those are the ones that stood out to me right away. That was naturally where I gravitated towards and we worked out a deal.”

Recent WSOF signees such as former UFC middleweight title challenger Yushin Okami were given a favorable matchup in their WSOF debut to get some footing in the organization. Shields says he would be fine with going that route, but after spending the past several years competing against the very best, he’s also content with jumping into the deep end right away.

“I’m up for either, really,” Shield said. “I always like to fight top opponents, but pretty much all my fights have been with really top opponents. So I’m up for either way, whatever they want to do.”

Even though Shields may face a lesser-known foe in his WSOF debut, his ultimately intention is take the belt from reigning 170-pound champion Rousimar Palhares.

“Toquinho” is a dangerous submission expert with a less-than-positive reputation in the MMA community for holding on to submission far longer than he should. Everyone has an opinion about Palhares, and Shields is no different. He thinks the Brazilian fights dirty.

“I think he is a dirty fighter,” Shields said. “I don’t know if he’s doing it intentionally. Maybe he is doing it intentionally – I don’t know him well enough – but he apparently has a really hard time knowing when to stop. I don’t want to accuse him of intentionally trying to hurt people, but it’s something he has done a few times.

“He has taken it too far both in submission fighting and MMA fighting, so it’s definitely something I’m concerned with. When you’re fighting someone who can put a serious injury on you it’s a big concern, but I still think I would fight him. Palhares is the best because he holds the belt right now.”

Shields is eager to get back in the cage to what he does best after the stir caused by his release from the UFC. Having fought professionally since 1999, Shields has seen pretty much every peak and valley imaginable in MMA. He’s never one to dwell on the past, and although his UFC career didn’t go exactly as planned, he’s glad to have quickly found a new home with WSOF.

“Obviously I wasn’t thrilled to be released, but as of right now I’m super excited to be starting a new chapter in my career with the World Series of Fighting. I think right now they have big things ahead of them.”

For more on WSOF’s upcoming schedule, stay tuned to the MMA Rumors section of the site.