JakeShields will have a 20-man crew in Toronto for UFC 129. | DaveMandel/Sherdog.com
When he steps into the cage at Toronto’s Rogers Centre for the mainevent of UFC129, Jake Shieldsknows he’ll probably be pegged as a 3-to-1 underdog, greeted by achorus of boos from more than 50,000 GeorgesSt. Pierre fans the moment his music hits the loudspeakers.
He just doesn’t care.
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What matters are the actions of the two men inside the Octagon,Shields explained during a Thursday media conference call, not theprospective sea of humanity hoping for him to lose consciousness insome fashion.
“This fight is something that I’ve been asking for, for about fouryears. I want to test myself against best, and I think [St. Pierre]certainly is the best,” said Shields. “The home country, of course,it helps [St. Pierre] a little bit, but it’s really not that big ofa deal. I’ve fought lots of people in their hometowns and homecountries. It’s going to be me and Georges in there, fighting. Thecrowd can do whatever they want, but it doesn’t bother me thatmuch.”
Though Shields has fought all over the world and acquired multipleworld titles, the CesarGracie student has yet to capture UFC gold. In only his secondOctagon appearance, Shields will face arguably the bestpound-for-pound fighter on the planet on his own turf, a dauntingtask to be sure. But according to the former Strikeforcemiddleweight king, his well-documented and tight-knit bond with histraining partners will provide him with an edge when he crosses theborder into GSP’s land.
“I’m really glad to have that [bond with my training partners],because even though I’m going into hostile territory, where mostpeople will be against me, I’ll be surrounded by 20 guys coming upwith us,” said Shields. “So, it won’t feel like such hostileterritory. I feel very fortunate to be in the situation I’min.”
In preparing for the biggest fight of his career, Shields alsofaces the most distractions he’s ever encountered, many come fromthe massive media attention that the bout has attracted. ThoughShields feels it’s all a bit much, the grappling specialist isadapting to the circus that surrounds him and keeping hispriorities straight.
“It’s definitely insane. I didn’t realize how much media [I wouldhave to accommodate]. There are [so many] interview requests andstuff,” said Shields. “But really, I put training first. I squeezeinterviews in between training. I haven’t missed one trainingsession because of it, and that’s all that really matters.”
In many cases, it’s not just the presence of the media, but thequestions asked by the press that can prove distracting. Since hisdifficult UFC debut against MartinKampmann in October -- for which Shields reportedly cut 20pounds in 24 hours to make the welterweight limit -- Shields hasbeen asked regularly about his weight. But according to thefighter, everything is on schedule this time around.
“I got [my weight in order] a long time ago,” said Shields, whocompeted at 185 pounds from 2009 to 2010. “I was 182 [pounds] thismorning, which, for me, is a nice, easy cut. I’m way underweight[this time]. It’s going to be no problem. I made a huge mistakelast time, which was 100 percent my fault. I learn from mymistakes, so I’m certainly not going to do that again.”
With his weight reportedly in order, Shields has been free to focuson technique and style conflicts between the champion and himself.Though the bookmakers have made St. Pierre the clear favoriteheading into the April 30 showdown, Shields believes his uniquegrappling pedigree will provide him with an advantage when thefight hits the floor.
“I was a wrestler in college, and I found Brazilian jiu-jitsu andjust fell in love with it. I started mixing the Brazilian jiu-jitsuwith my wrestling, and I think that makes me...a difficult guy totrain for,” said Shields. “There are a lot of guys who are eitherpure wrestlers who found jiu-jitsu, or pure jiu-jitsu guys whofound wrestling, but I really found the two and infused them. So, Ithink that makes me more dangerous, especially for MMA.”
Though St. Pierre’s most recent title defense is remembered for thelarge amount of pre-fight trash talk dealt out by challengerJoshKoscheck, there has been none of that from Shields in thelead-up to his shot at the belt. While the No. 1 contender readilyadmits that an air of cordiality exists between himself and thechampion now, Shields warns that fans should not expect that politedemeanor to carry into the cage.
“Me and Georges have mutual respect, but [come] fight time, we’regoing to be going hard at each other. I’m certainly going to begoing after him, and I hope he does the same.”
