Jake Shields, who was recently cut by the UFC, has signed a multi-fight deal with the World Series of Fighting, so he did not spend time on the shelf long! For the World Series of Fighting, it is a high profile additional of talent to their roster, though like Yushin Okami and Jon Fitch before him, being cut from the UFC roster leaves open a lot of questions about Shields. Additionally, though the WSOF calendar has several shows announced, a debut date has not been set for Shields. What will the WSOF do with Shields?
The first thing Shields is going to have to decide is what weight class he wants to compete in, as he has competed as a Welterweight in the UFC, but has been able to compete at a high level at Middleweight as well. The WSOF’s welterweight division would appear to be it’s deepest, as Rousimar Palhares was just crowned the champion and includes talents such as Steve Carl, Jon Fitch and Josh Burkman.
But looking over Shields’ long career, his best wins, which include such UFC stars as Robbie Lawler and Dan Henderson, have come in the Middleweight division. Yushin Okami is their in the weight class, and he is 1-0 in WSOF after defeating Svet Savov at March’s WSOF 9 event, but there is little depth and the WSOF may want Shields to move right into the Middleweight division.
If you ask UFC President Dana White he might say a battle between Jake Shields and Yushin Okami has the potential to put record numbers of viewers to sleep. Both are grapplers of the highest level, but when it comes to the mainstream, grappling is like jazz – the better it gets, the less people like it!
The WSOF has the potential for a high level match for their Middleweight title between Yushin Okami and Jake Shields, though it could blow up in their face and be a boring match-up. Look for Okami to come in a slight favorite for the match if a line hits the sportsbooks.
