Following his release by the UFC, former Strikeforce middleweight champion and onetime UFC title challenger Jake Shields has signed with WSOF.
Shields’ manager, Lex McMahon, on Thursday confirmed Shields’ signing to MMAjunkie following an initial report from Bleacher Report. No terms of the deal are known, and WSOF has yet to make an official announcement of Shields being in the fold, or of when his first fight will be.
“Jake is happy to call WSOF home, and is looking forward to a long relationship,” McMahon told MMAjunkie.
Shields joins fighters like Jon Fitch, Yushin Okami and Melvin Guillard as recent high-profile releases by the UFC. But in WSOF’s welterweight division, he’ll step right into the title picture with the likes of Fitch and Josh Burkman for new champion Rousimar Palhares.
Shields (29-7-1) was let go by the UFC following a unanimous decision loss to Hector Lombard at UFC 171 in Dallas. That loss snapped a four-fight unbeaten streak for the Californian, a longtime training partner of Nick and Nate Diaz and Gilbert Melendez.
The 35-year-old Shields was regarded as one of the world’s best welterweights outside of the UFC when he signed with EliteXC and went on to win that promotion’s 170-pound title with a submission of Nick Thompson in just 63 seconds in 2008. He defended that belt with a submission of Paul Daley before the promotion shuttered its doors.
Shields moved up to middleweight when he signed with Strikeforce in 2009 and submitted Robbie Lawler. Then he beat Jason Miller to win the vacant 185-pound belt in November 2009. Against Dan Henderson, he had a stiff test in his first title defense. But after a rough first round, he went on to dominate the former PRIDE champion for a unanimous decision in what would be his final fight for the promotion.
Shields signed with the UFC in 2010 an took a split decision from Martin Kampmann in his promotional debut, a return to welterweight. That got him a shot at then-champ Georges St-Pierre in UFC 129′s main event. But despite doing what was then almost unheard of, taking rounds on the judges’ scorecards from the champion, he dropped a decision for his first loss since December 2004, snapping a 15-fight winning streak.
Shields’ next fight was a main event against Jake Ellenberger that came not long after his father had passed away. In New Orleans, he was stopped in 53 seconds for the first back-to-back losses of his career. He rebounded with a unanimous decision win over Yoshihiro Akiyama at UFC 144 in February 2012. But after a decision win at middleweight over Ed Herman, he failed a post-fight drug test and was suspended and fined.
When he returned, it was again at welterweight, and he picked up back-to-back split-decision wins against Tyron Woodley and Demian Maia in 2013 to put himself back in the title discussion at 170 pounds. The loss to Lombard halted that talk and ultimate got him his release.
But Shields now moves forward with the Las Vegas-based promotion, which airs its main cards on NBC Sports Network.