The 31-year-old Shields had been in a final-phase "matching period" of his recently completed contract with the San Jose, Calif.-based promotion, which allowed him to receive bids from other organizations, including the UFC, that Strikeforce could review and match in order to keep his services. However, the source said Strikeforce waived that contractual right in its final 2-3 weeks and opted to release the Cesar Gracie fighter altogether before the period expired.
Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker confirmed to Sherdog.com that the promotion informed Jack Shields, the fighter's manager and father, of the release on Wednesday. Coker would not comment further on the decision.
"In the conversation we had today, they said they felt that Jake was leaning towards the UFC. Honestly, we were talking to them with an open mind, though
Jake wants to fight the best," said the elder Shields. "Between Strikeforce and EliteXC, Jake had the chance to fight on Showtime and CBS four or five times against some top fighters like Dan Henderson and Robbie Lawler. Strikeforce gave him great opportunities and exposure. They've been nothing but great for Jake."
Zach Arnold transcribes Dave Meltzer's take on the situation and adds some commentary:
"Yeah. Well, it was bound to happen. I mean, before he even left when they were already talking about the tournament, you know what I'm saying? I mean, you know, and I saw Jake at the show Saturday and you know I mean he wasn't like 100% but I mean you know... the minute he showed up on that WEC show with Dana (White), you know, even if he hadn't decided, the bottom line is that I think that Strikeforce pretty much decided they weren't going to make him any kind offer. That was slapping them in the face, it really was."
...
I mean as far as leverage and going back-and-forth, you know them pulling out certainly hurts his leverage, you know but I think Dana is going to make him a good offer no matter what. He was already going after him. I don't think he's going to lowball him even though he's got the leverage to do it now. However, he... if they had gotten both sides you know they could have gotten into a bidding war to take it higher on both sides and that is not going to happen. So, you know, he's going to get I think what probably would be a fair deal, you know, and it'll be interesting to see who he faces because you get a guy who can strike with the takedown defense and I mean Jake's got that weakness, you know, I mean his striking sucks, you know by you know the level of a top 185 or 170 pounder. His ground game is fantastic and his wrestling is very good. So, you know he can beat you know if you don't have very good takedown defense, he will beat you. But, you know, the guys, if you got great takedown and you can hit, that's going to be Jake's weakness."
The most interesting aspect to this story is that the Shields camp wants to face Anderson Silva. We all know what Dana White said before the fight between Shields and Dan Henderson when he said that Shields had no business being in there against a guy that big. Wonder what Dana would say if there was money at stake to book a fight between Shields and Anderson?
Shields certainly didn't help his chances of using Strikeforce to generate competing and better offers from the UFC when he all but sat in Dana White's lap on camera at WEC 48. I doubt that really helped his case with either promoter. It might have been hard to decline Dana's invitation, but he played himself by accepting. Insulting a soon to be ex never helps in the divorce.
Now as for the big tournament to replace Shields as the Strikeforce MW champ, Coker's been spinning some alluring fantasies: Cung Le, Nick Diaz, Dan Henderson, Mayhem Miller, Jacare Souza, Tim Kennedy, the Sengoku Champ, etc etc.
Well not so fast Scott.
Cung Le wants none of it. Dan Henderson says not so much. Diaz and Mayhem are suspended through August. So it looks like once again Scott Coker's big plans are collapsing around his ears.
One thing I'm wondering, have the fighters begun to notice that the Strikeforce belt -- with its onerous championship clause that means the champ can't leave until he loses -- is really a golden pair of handcuffs? The natural step for a fighter who's cleared out a minor league (and with Fedor's loss, that's what Strikeforce is in all but women's MMA and the mens' 155lb division) is to move up to the bigs. But the UFC won't take a fighter off a loss and unless he wants to spend years in court, he can't up and leave.
Shields didn't have a champions clause in his deal because his contract with Strikeforce carried over from his EliteXC days.
This goes for Bellator too. Will Hector Lombard, Eddie Alvarez, Lyman Good or maybe Ben Askren and Joe Warren be stuck in minor league purgatory for the end of their careers?
I'm a big fan of Strikeforce and have generally been more sympathetic to them than their competitors, but it's getting to the point where even Kid Nate knows which way the wind is blowing. And it's a gale force blast that's wiping out competing MMA promotions.
