Jake Shields and Jason “Mayhem” Miller will battle it out for the Strikeforce middleweight title now that Cung Le has agreed to vacate the belt in order to pursue his movie career. Shields admits that Miller could present some problems in the cage and respects the skills he possesses. He believes that a win for Miller could prove that he is a “legit” MMA fighter, especially if he beats Shields on national television. However, Shields feels that his hard work throughout his MMA career will pay off as he plans to make a statement on CBS come November 7.
From Jake Shields:
“I know people down here and I heard (Jason Miller) is training really hard. You know, Mayhem is a crazy guy but he definitely has his shit together. He knows this is a huge opportunity to come in there and beat me. He doesn’t really get the chance to show what he really can bring to the table on “Bully Beatdown” and this is his chance to show the world what he can do. This is his chance to come out [and prove] he is legit, especially on CBS. If he were to go out there and beat me, it would legitimize him to a lot of people and I’m not going to let him take what I’ve worked so hard for … I don’t want to take a step backwards and lose everything I’ve worked so hard for. I mean, the ‘Rumble on the Rock’ tournament was one of the toughest tournaments ever, but no one saw it. So now with CBS, the card’s legit, and I’m going to go out there and make a statement against Mayhem.”