Jake Shields is currently recuperating from a back injury
that has kept him away from fighting EliteXC welterweight champion Drew
Fickett. He was originally going to fight Fickett at the March 29th
event, but he was not able to participate due to the painful injury he suffered
on his back. The Cesar Gracie fighter states that his rehab has been
going really well and he should be ready to fight Fickett some time in July for
the welterweight title.
Shields is considered one of the top welterweight fighters in the world
today. Although George St.Pierre is ranked #1 in the world,
Shields would like to have a chance to fight the current UFC welterweight
champ. With 9 straight wins to his favor, the former Shooto World Champion had
a few things to say about GSP:
“St. Pierre
looks awesome… He’s one of the fights that I’d really love to have right now… I
need to make sure I look really good against my opponents; I want go out and
dominate people so I can build some momentum for that fight… He doesn’t have a
lot of weaknesses. He’s going to be a tough guy to beat, because it’s not like
you can pick out one thing… To beat a guy like St. Pierre you have to be in phenomenal shape
and keep the pressure on him. You’ve got to stay in his face, and if he takes
you down, you better be ready to get back up and not just stay in guard and get
manhandled like he’s doing to people… I think I’m hard to take down and I’m
good at getting to my feet… I would just try to stay in his face, wear him down
and break him… No one is going to beat St. Pierre easily right now, but he is beatable.”
(props to mmaweekly.com)