An Arrival Long Anticipated

The Brock Lesnar-Cain Velasquez main event will dominate headlines and coverage of UFC 121 on Saturday at the Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif., but mixed martial arts aficionados will celebrate something a long time coming: Jake Shields’ debut in the UFC.

Shields has been one of the sport’s best fighters despite not competing in its marquee organization, and the timing of his arrival could not be better. Shields, on a 14-fight winning streak punctuated by impressive wins and workmanlike performances, enters the UFC’s welterweight division as a welcome foil to current king Georges St. Pierre.

Slotted into the co-headliner slot at UFC 121, Shields has his work cut out for him against Martin Kampmann, a capable welterweight with stout stand-up and a proficient ground game. It represents the next step in an 11 year-career that has taken the Northern California product through a bevy of fight organizations, clawing his way up the world rankings while often being promotionally separated from the opponents fans most wanted to see him fight.

“Training has gone great,” Shields says. “I just finished sparring. I feel ready to go out there. It’s good. I’m always working, trying to improve. I work on it every day, and I’m constantly making big improvements.”

For his part, Shields has gotten used to being cast as the underdog, the good-but-not-great fighter expected to fill a supporting role en route to letting someone else’s star shine. At least that was the case in April, when Strikeforce, fresh off its acquisition of the red-hot Dan Henderson, put the MMA legend in a middleweight title bout with Shields, who was on the last fight of his contract with the organization.

On paper, it appeared that Shields faced the worst style matchup possible. Henderson, with his vaunted punching power and Olympic wrestling pedigree, was obviously being brought in to be built as a star for the promotion. In the opening round, when Shields was badly mauled on two occasions by Henderson’s thunderous rights, it appeared the Cesar Gracie-trained fighter was playing right into the script. But he recovered, survived the barrage and turned around the fight, dominating Henderson over five rounds in a textbook decision win.

“Let them underestimate me,” Shields says. “I did what I had to do. He hit me with the big right hand and was going to try and ground-and-pound me. Of course, I wanted to get out and finish him. Henderson is one tough-assed dude.”

With St. Pierre heading into his UFC 124 rematch with Josh Koscheck, Shields figures to fit nicely into the welterweight equation. His career has seen him win titles in various organizations, from Rumble on the Rock, Shooto and EliteXC to Strikeforce.

As Shields has inched his way into the sport’s top echelon, his teammates have established themselves impressively, as well. Gilbert Melendez has become the Strikeforce lightweight champion. Nick Diaz holds that organization’s welterweight belt. And Nate Diaz won Season 5 of “The Ultimate Fighter” and has readily improved in his two fights since moving to 170 pounds. If Team Gracie has a common thread running through its styles and body of work, it’s a lot of conditioning and tenacity in every performance.

The secret to their success?

“We only see each other a couple times a week; Nick and Nate are an hour and a half away,” says the Berkeley, Calif.-based Shields. “I live near Gil, and I see him like four times a week, Nick and Nate twice a week. We’re like brothers. We really are about each other and do whatever we can to help each other. Also, we’re a group of guys that work really hard.”

Mentor and trainer Cesar Gracie credits Shields’ work ethic for putting him in the position in which he finds himself, and he knows the UFC experience brings challenges aplenty. Even so, he deemed his charge ready. Ironically, Shields’ only stoppage loss in four defeats was to Marty Armendarez, a Cesar Gracie product.

“I’d see him at fights, and he was a really nice guy. We would talk, and he would talk with some of guys on my team, and he really respected what he was seeing my fighters,” Gracie says. “He ended up moving to San Francisco to go to college and wrestle there. He would visit my school in Pleasant Hill. The first day he came in, David Terrell promptly put him to sleep. Jake was sitting there on the mat. I had to wake him up. It was an interesting experience. He’s such a tough kid, and he just kept coming back.”

While renowned for his blend of good wrestling and jui-jitsu, Shields was not always great at the latter, according to Gracie.

“When Jake first was training with us. I’d watch him. I noticed he would have a pretty decent top game, but he didn’t have any kind of bottom game whatsoever. So I came to him one day and said, ‘You really have to work on your guard.’ He’s always trying to get on top,” Gracie says. “He took the talk to heart. He was then always going to guard. He just stuck it through. It got tougher and tougher, and I remembered trying to pass his guard one day, and it got tough. He just got so good at it. He’s just a coachable person. He’ll listen to what a coach will tell him.”

St. Pierre’s dominance of late has been breathtakingly one-sided in his second reign, as he has seemingly integrated the mental with the physical and become an imposing force in every phase of the game.

“Because he’s a super athlete,” Gracie says. “I really believe that. He’s got a work ethic that’s really good, too. It’s his athleticism. Here’s a guy that he never wrestled in college, yet he takes down all the D1 wrestlers. You cannot describe GSP as a traditional wrestler, and yet, here he is and he’s doing it. He makes things happen with his speed and ability and takes time to learn techniques. If you had to describe him in a different sport, he’d be [boxer] Andre Ward. He trains so hard and he’s an athlete, and other people don’t have that athletic ability or they haven’t worked as hard at it as he has. That goes a long way.”

Shields holds St. Pierre, a man he might someday face for the sport’s biggest prize, in high regard, as well.

“He’s successful for multiple reasons,” he says. “He has a phenomenal work ethic, and he’s willing to go out there and seek knowledge and improve. He’s good standing, on the ground and has great takedowns. He doesn’t have a lot of weaknesses. I think I match up good with him.”

Gracie knows that any debut in a new organization also carries with it challenges, simply as part of the transition process.

“It’s interesting. I would not have liked this first fight to be such a vet as Kampmann, though I fully expect Jake to beat him. Whenever you go to another organization, it’s not your home,” Gracie says. “You’re not expected to win. Dan Henderson came to Strikeforce, but that was Shields’ home, and no way Jake was going to lose there. So your first fight is important. Look at [Mauricio] ‘Shogun’ [Rua] versus Forrest [Griffin]. He looked terrible in that fight, and then he settled down. You’re gonna be surprised at how good Jake’s stand-up has gotten. You’ll see. And Jake’s the best grappler in the UFC.”

Gracie added that Shields once sparred with Kampmann and “more then held his own.” Naturally, Shields is not looking past Kampmann, but given his decade-plus of experience, he is not worried about nerves, either.

“I just look at every fight individually. I don’t look at it any different [being in the UFC]. You can’t let the nerves and pressure get to you,” he says. “I figure Martin will try and circle, stay away, throw a lot of jabs and get in and out. Get me shooting bad shots and getting sloppy. That’d be my game plan if I were him. Ultimately, it’s just me and Martin in the cage. You can’t overanalyze it.”