This Month’s MMA Birthdays: Jake Shields Celebrates No. 40

Jake Shields will go down in the history books, not only as one of the sport’s most accomplished welterweights but as one of its most polarizing figures, often derided for his commitment to a three-yards-and-a-cloud-of-dust approach to mixed martial arts. The Cesar Gracie protégé will celebrate his 40th birthday on Jan. 9.

A former Shooto, Strikeforce and EliteXC champion, Shields has compiled a 33-11-1 record in more than 19 years as a pro. However, more than half (18) of his wins have come by decision. Between Nov. 12, 2005 and Oct. 23, 2010, Shields rattled off 15 consecutive victories -- Yushin Okami, Carlos Condit, Paul Daley, Robbie Lawler and Dan Henderson were among the victims -- and established himself as a top-shelf fighter on the global stage. His streak was snapped at UFC 129, where wound up on the wrong side of a unanimous decision against Georges St. Pierre in a failed bid to capture the welterweight crown before 55,724 fans at the Rogers Centre in Toronto. Shields put together a 4-3 record in the Ultimate Fighting Championship before parting ways with the company in 2014. He has since gone on to compete under the World Series of Fighting and Professional Fighters League flags.

Others in MMA who are celebrating birthdays during the month of January:

JAN. 1

Guy Mezger, 51
Eiji Mitsuoka, 43
Charles Diaz, 42
Robbie Peralta, 33
John Lineker, 29
Herica Tiburcio, 26

JAN. 2

Igor Pokrajac, 40
Mac Danzig, 39
Luis Santos, 39
Oli Thompson, 39
Emanuel Newton, 35

JAN. 3

Rodney Glunder, 44
Vlad Popovskiy, 27
Marif Piraev, 26
Paddy Pimblett, 24
Magomed Saipulaev, 23

JAN. 4

Kimo Leopoldo, 51
Vladimir Matyushenko, 48
Shane Carwin, 44
Donny Walker, 39
Jose Maria Tome, 37
Derek Brunson, 35
Raphael Butler, 35
Jin Suk Jung, 35
Jung Min Kang, 33
Warlley Alves, 28

JAN. 5

Ruben Villareal, 49
Mike Bronzoulis, 40
John Gunderson, 40
Kaline Medeiros, 40
Trevor Smith, 38
Takahiro Suzuki, 32
Douglas Lima, 31
Goiti Yamauchi, 26

JAN. 6

Kevin Rosier, 1962-2015
Kenny Garner, 44
Kalib Starnes, 44
Riki Fukuda, 38
Wilson Reis, 34
Michelle Waterson, 33
Matheus Nicolau Pereira, 26

JAN. 7

Donald Brashear, 47
Christian Colombo, 39
Caros Fodor, 35
Thiago Santos, 35
Levan Makashvili, 30

JAN. 8

Tara LaRosa, 41
Andre Santos, 38
Ertan Balaban, 36
Colin Fletcher, 36
Michael Graves , 28

JAN. 9

Pete Spratt, 48
David Terrell, 41
Jake Shields, 40
Garreth McLellan, 37
Yoislandy Izquierdo, 35

JAN. 10

Yumiko Hotta, 52
Mickey Hughes, 40
Matt Brown, 38
Magomed Magomedkerimov, 29
Merab Dvalishvili, 28

JAN. 11

Rebecca Ruth, 40
Rafael Cavalcante, 38
Muhammed Lawal, 38
Eddie Alvarez, 35
Peter Sobotta, 32

JAN. 12

Ikuhisa Minowa, 43
Young Bok Kil, 34
Angela Hill, 31
Jingnan Xiong, 31
Isis Verbeek, 24

JAN. 13

George Allen, 52
Leigh Remedios, 43
Justin Hawes, 40
Dennis Siver, 40
Joe Schilling, 35

JAN. 14

Matt Uhde, 45
Akbarh Arreola, 36
Daniel McWilliams, 36
Matt Riddle, 33
Kevin Chung, 26

JAN. 15

Alexandre Franca Nogueira, 41
Nobuhiro Obiya, 38
Yuki Nishigo, 34
Andrew Craig, 33
Efrain Escudero, 33
Alexander Gustafsson, 32
Michael McDonald, 28
Zubaira Tukhugov, 28

JAN. 16

Paul Buentello, 45
Hyun Gyu Lim, 34
Sai Wang, 33
Juan Adams, 27
Chris Avila, 26

JAN. 17

Gary Goodridge, 53
Ariel Sexton, 37
Dusan Dzakic, 32
Brian Grinnell, 31
Alexander Sarnavskiy, 30
Arnold Allen, 26

JAN. 18

Neil Grove, 48
Jeff Monson, 48
Yoshikazu Fujiishi, 41
Luis Ramos, 38
Miguel Torres, 38
Carlos Diego Ferreira, 34
Marcin Held, 27

JAN. 19

Aritano Silva Barbosa, 40
Leandro Higo, 30
Dustin Poirier, 30
Timur Valiev, 29
Regivaldo Carvalho, 25

JAN. 20

Matt Ewin, 49
Alexandre Ribeiro, 38
Roy Doliguez, 37
Donavon Frelow, 34
Su Mudaerji, 23

JAN. 21

Francisco France, 36
Edson Barboza, 33
Patricky Freire, 33
Willie Gates, 32
Matthew Lopez, 32
Shane Campbell, 31
Andre Ewell, 31

JAN. 22

Min Soo Kim, 44
Jorge Antonio Cezario de Oliveira, 39
Luigi Fioravanti, 38
Tomasz Drwal, 37
Jin Hoo Kim, 37
Mickey Gall, 27

JAN. 23

Marco Ruas, 58
Tito Ortiz, 44
A.J. Matthews, 31
Christos Giagos, 29
Shamil Akhmatkhanov, 23

JAN. 24

Akira Maeda, 60
Lukasz Chlewicki, 40
Jamall Johnson, 37
Jimmy Spicuzza, 34
Oskar Piechota, 29

JAN. 25

Ron van Clief, 76
Jorge Gurgel, 42
Paulo Thiago, 38
John Quinn, 36
Mike Easton, 35
Dominique Steele, 31

JAN. 26

Dan Bobish, 49
Carmelo Marrero, 38
Rafaello Oliveira, 37
Chico Camus, 34
Ariane Lipski, 25

JAN. 27

Tony Sylvester, 41
Klay Konrad, 37
Anthony Pettis, 32
Emmanuel Walo, 32
Vinicius de Jesus, 29

JAN. 28

Tim Boetsch, 38
Cortez Coleman, 37
Ashleigh Grimshaw, 37
Jesse Fujarczyk, 36
Brandon Saling, 33

JAN. 29

Stephen Palling, 52
Kazuyuki Miyata, 43
Annalisa Bucci, 36
Nikolay Aleksakhin, 28
Mallory Martin, 25

JAN. 30

Takaku Fuke, 50
Rob Kimmons, 38
Jessica Penne, 36
Junior dos Santos, 35
Daniel Swain, 28

JAN. 31

Akira Shoji, 45
Kengo Watanabe, 43
Maciej Jewtuszko, 38
Shunichi Shimizu, 34
Renan Barao, 32
Kirill Sukhomlinov, 31
Dhiego Lima, 30
Cesar Arzamendia, 28