Jake Shields - "I'd Definitely Have A Good Shot (Against GSP)"

(photo courtesy of CombatLifestyle)

Elite XC’s first ever, (and current) welterweight champion Jake Shields made time in his busy schedule last Friday for a short chat with Fight Network Radio hosts John Pollock and Mauro Ranallo (who joined the show via phone patch). Shields has been a hot topic in the fight industry over the past week, due in part to rumblings about potential fights with John “The Natural” Alessio in an upcoming Elite XC show and even a middleweight showdown against Matt “The Law” Lindland in upstart organization Affliction’s second show. Shields addressed those subjects, as well as answering questions regarding his teammate Nick Diaz and the state of the welterweight division in Elite XC, in this candid interview.

John Pollock got things rolling by mentioning the big issue of the day, the cancellation of an Elite XC show that was to be held on September 20th in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Earlier in the show, Mauro Ranallo called in to the show from California to break the news. There was little information known at the time, and even Shields sounded surprised by the announcement. Regarding an upcoming fight, Shields had this to say:

“I’m not 100% sure when I’m going to fight right now. This is the first time I’ve heard that event was cancelled on the 20th. I had been training for it because I thought that was a ‘maybe’. So it looks like that fight is off (against Alessio). But I’m interested to see what’s going on”.

Speculation had run rampant in various MMA media outlets that Shields was approached as a possible opponent for highly ranked middleweight Matt “The Law” Lindland in Affliction’s next event in Las Vegas, scheduled for this October. While not directly alluding to talks with Affliction, Shields did admit, “We have a few good offers on the table; we’re trying to sort it out. In the next couple of days probably, we’ll know hopefully”. He elaborated on some terms with his Elite XC contract, which does not forbid fighting in other organizations, he believes, but with permission from Elite XC. Apart from that, Elite XC understandably has priority over the other organizations with the option to override potential fights in those organizations.

Addressing the issue of moving up to middleweight, Shields clarified he would only do so for a fight at a time. He shared, “I look at myself as a welterweight and that’s where I want to stay. But I’m also just looking for fights that really excite me and things that will do something for me. And if going up a weight class for a fight excites me, then I’ll do it for a fight. I certainly don’t ever plan on going to middleweight and staying there; it’s not a comfortable weight”. But he grew animated upon mentioning potential matchups at 185 pounds, naming Frank Shamrock, Matt Lindland, and Frank Trigg as fighters he would be interested in facing. “I’d love a really good chance to move up fifteen pounds and fight one of those guys and see how I do”.

Currently the kingpin of Elite XC’s welterweight division, Shields was asked for his opinion on the relatively limited options Elite XC provided him with regards to opponents. Pollock likened Shields to a “big fish in a small pond”. Although profuse in his praise for his home organization, Shields acknowledged, “It’s really frustrating. I love Elite XC; they treat me good. It’s a great show; it’s someone I want to keep fighting for but it would be nice to get an opportunity to go test myself against some bigger opponents, different weights. Obviously, there are some really good welterweights out there that still can test me at Elite XC. I think Alessio is still a really tough fight; I wouldn’t look past him at all. Really, I’m fighting because I love it and I want to test myself. If the tests aren’t there, it’s hard to stay motivated”.

Shield’s ascent to the Top Ten rankings in the welterweight division (in many MMA insider’s opinions, Shields is a Top 3 fighter) have long had fans discussing a possible match-up with Georges St. Pierre, the UFC’s current welterweight champion and arguably number one in the Top Ten ranking. Earlier in the week, Fight Network Radio hosted an interview with Firas Zahabi, one of St. Pierre’s trainers. In the interview, Ranallo recalled, Zahabi said of a St. Pierre-Shields fight that Shields wasn’t at St. Pierre’s level yet. Shields took no offense, and good naturedly said, “That’s GSP’s trainer so of course, he’d better be saying that. My trainers better say the same for me!” He went on to say, “I think GSP looked phenomenal in the last few fights. It certainly wouldn’t be an easy fight for me but I think I’m feeling really good right now and I’d definitely have a good shot. But we won’t know until it happens and hopefully it’ll be something that can happen within a year or so. Who know with all the politics right now but I’m just trying to train my ass off and fight good and look good in all my fights and if that keeps happening, the fight will be forced to happen at some point”.

The topic shifted to Shield’s teammate, top lightweight contender Nick Diaz. MMA fans have been eagerly anticipating a rematch between Diaz and Elite XC lightweight champion KJ Noons since Noons defeated Diaz due to cuts in November of 2007. Tension between Diaz and Noons gradually came to a head during a heated confrontation that culminated in a mini-brawl between both camps after Noons defended his belt against Yves Edwards in June of this year. Mauro Ranallo asked Shields on the status of a rematch between his close friend and teammate Diaz and Noons. Shields had some strong words about the issue.

“I’m actually not 100% sure (about the rematch). I haven’t talked to Nick in a week or so. I believe they were trying to make that fight happen on the September 20th (New Mexico show). But I don’t know 100%. I think that’s what happened. I don’t think KJ wants any part of it. I think KJ is doing everything he can to avoid the fight. In my opinion if you’re the champion, you fight whom the organization throws in front of you, who the #1 fighter is or you get stripped. He should either fight Nick or get stripped. He’s (Nick) the #1 contender. If KJ doesn’t have the balls to fight him, then he has no business being a champion”.

As the interview came to a close, Shields spoke about the uproar the Diaz and Noons’ after-fight altercation caused in the fight industry. He opined, “I think everyone’s freaked out over a little brawl. They forget what our sport is; our sport is fighting. You get into little fights in fighting. It may not be great (for the sport) but is it really that big of a deal? I don’t think it is; we’re fighters. Occasionally, especially right after a fight, emotions are running high; things get said, especially when our adrenaline is going. It’s what we’re trained to do. It shouldn’t be a surprise if a little fight breaks out at weigh-ins, or the press conference or a fight or something. It’s what we’re trained to do”. Ranallo brought up comparisons to the recent Brock Lesnar-Heath Herring showboating incident at UFC 87 and shared his belief that MMA needs fighters like Nick Diaz. Shields agreed, saying, “Exactly; it helps tell the sport. People make it out to be a bad thing but if it’s bringing attention to it, I don’t know why it’s bad. Like I said, we’re trained athletes. When it’s not quite fight time, it’s not really that big of a deal (confrontations). It’s not like assault on an untrained person. It’s a completely different situation”.

While quelling rumors about his bright future in the fight industry and in Elite XC, many will be waiting for updates about Shields’ and his next move. However, no matter what his next fight may be, Elite XC’s newsworthy welterweight champion will be captivating MMA fans again soon.

Kenny Florian - In Cruise Control

(photo courtesy of CombatLifestyle)

Kenny Florian is a busy man. Aside from being one of the most exciting lightweights in mixed martial arts, “KenFlo” is a jack-of-all-trades in the sport, hosting MMA Live on ESPN.com and joining the broadcast team during recent UFC pay per view events. He took time out of his hectic schedule to speak with the Fight Network Radio crew about his highly anticipated fight with Roger Huerta this coming Saturday at UFC 89 in Minneapolis, Minnesota, implementing more weight classes in mixed martial arts, and branching out in the fight world.

Co-host John Pollock, running the show while host Mauro Ranallo is on vacation asked Florian about the pressure putting on a great show and being involved in what could be a possible fight of the year. Florian admitted he himself was expecting fireworks, hyping the fight by saying, “You have two very aggressive well-rounded fighters who are going to go at each other from the start of the fight and I expect a very dynamic and fast paced fight. That’s the way I fight, that’s the way Roger fights. I don’t expect any different for this fight. It’s going to come down to the little details, who did all the things right and who can capitalize on each other’s mistakes”. He spoke about his approach to making weight, admitting he’s about 167 pounds at the moment (12 pounds from his weigh-in weight of 155 pounds) and that on weigh-in day he’d be about 162-163 pounds. In training for this fight with Huerta, he’d gained a few pounds of muscle and compared his mental state at the moment as one of “cruise control. The hard training is done and now it’s just about being mentally prepared and keeping the knife sharp”. He further elaborated on his preparation, stating, “I like to do a lot of visualization; I do meditation and kind of just get focused. My body just knows, my mind just knows. I’m not as friendly; I’m not joking around as much. I know that my body’s getting ready for something great. I really feel that after all this hard training, all the pain and suffering I went through for this camp and every camp, it’s time to perform. I get my reward on August 9th; I get to go out there and do my job so I’m excited for that”.

Pollock brought up the Association of Boxing Commission (ABC) Convention held recently in Montreal. A controversial topic discussed at the convention was the possible implementation of additional weight classes in mixed martial arts. Pollock used Florian’s losses against Diego Sanchez (at 185 pounds, with Sanchez noticeably much larger than Florian) and Sean Sherk (at 155 pounds, again with Sherk being bigger) as examples of the difference in weight classes. Florian was outspoken about the subject saying, “ I would love to see a 195 pound weight class for example, maybe a 235 pound weight class or a 165 pound weight class. Maybe every 10 pounds would be very beneficial to a lot of fighters out there who may be in between. We’ve seen problems in the past with fighters trying to make weight. I’m not making any excuses for them or anything like that. That’s their job, they should weigh in on weight obviously but perhaps that would help alleviate some of those concerns, some of those problems. I think at this point with the amount of fighters out there, I think the organizations can certainly sustain the other weight classes so I’m all for it”. However, he noted that he believed he was in the right weight class (155 pounds) for himself.

A trend has emerged with fighters branching out into other divisions of not only the fight world, but in areas such as fashion and entertainment. Florian has stuck mainly to the MMA industry, honing his skills as a host of MMA Live and in the broadcast booth with the UFC. Florian excitedly talked about those opportunities, but made clear his heart still lies with the physical aspect of MMA. “First and foremost my priority is fighting and that’s still something I’m very passionate about. As soon as that dies down, I’ll know its time to hang up the gloves. It’s been a great thing. I was hoping, really, for something like this to come up a little bit later in my career but I’ll take it. It’s an opportunity that I really couldn’t pass up with ESPN. I’m really happy with them over there, everything’s been going great. Hopefully we can get the show (MMA Live) on TV and really take mixed martial arts to the next level and a lot of these opportunities that have come to me, I just feel real blessed. You can’t fight forever and you need a back up plan. It’s always good to have something besides getting hit in the face so these are all good things and I’m looking forward to what the future holds but right now, fighting is my number one priority”. He talked about trying to be an impartial figure in the media, admitting how tough it is to be personally involved with his fellow fighters and having to make fight predictions and the like. He even joked that maybe the reason he hadn’t heard from some of his fighter friends was because they were offended at his predictions or remarks.

UFC President Dana White has put the spotlight on the Huerta-Florian fight as he has indicated the winner of the fight would likely face lightweight champion BJ Penn. But Pollock pointed out Penn’s desire to fight the winner of the welterweight title fight, with champion Georges St. Pierre defending against challenger Jon Fitch (the main event on the same card as Huerta-Florian). He asked Florian if it bothered him in any way that BJ was vocal about hopping from one division to another.

“No, not at all. I know BJ’s motivated by different things. He’s accomplished a lot of great things in his career and just wants bigger and better things. I’m sure that if BJ gets the belt, or he ends up fighting St. Pierre and beats him, I’m sure he’ll be back to 155 pounds. It’s tough for me to say how another person should feel but I know BJ pretty well and I know he’s motivated by very specific things, especially losses that he wants to get back on his record. I’m sure that he’ll be back at the 155 division and if not, no problem. As long as I get to fight the best guys that are out there and the toughest guys, I’ll be happy”. Answering a caller’s question regarding Penn against St. Pierre, Florian held the opinion that he believed Penn has the tools to defeat St. Pierre. After discussing Penn, Florian touched on the subject of lightweights not under contract to the UFC. Eddie Alvarez, Gesias “JZ” Calvacante, and Joachim Hansen were brought up and Florian had respect for them all, especially in regards to Japanese fighters Takanori Gomi and Shinya Aoki. He simplified his earlier statements saying “I want to break into the top ten consistently like those guys and I want to show that I’m one of the best in the world and in order to do that, you’ve got to fight the best and I want to keep fighting the best so I can be regarded as a top ten”.

A listener, Steve, inquired about a game plan Florian was formulating with his trainers against Huerta. Florian didn’t divulge too much, saying, “Mark (Delagrotte) and I have always gone over a lot of things, and with my brother as well. There are specific things that we feel we can expose in Roger’s game, assuming those weaknesses are still there. We’re assuming that Roger’s filled a lot of those holes but based on what we’ve seen, we feel that there are a lot of holes in his game and I think I have the skills to exploit them and God willing, it’ll happen. I’ve got a lot of great trainers around me and we’ve done the work and we’ve done our homework and I’ve put in the long hours and we’re hoping that it’ll pay off”. To end the show, a listener, Charlie from Ontario offered Florian his support, stating he felt Florian would “walk through Huerta easily in the first round”. Florian didn’t overtly disagree saying, “Huerta is tough as nails and I have to be ready for sure. I know I can finish him in the first round and we’ll see what happens but I’m expecting a war”.