Why Jake Shield's Performance Seemed Lackluster To Fans

by Kelvin Hunt on Nov 9, 2009 5:00 PM EST in News Comment 10 comments

One thing that came out of the Strikeforce event this past weekend was the fans reaction to Jake Shields victory over Jason "Mayhem" Miller. The crowd booed the fight several times, and the ratings show that fans actually turned the channel while this fight was on. It's not that Shields isn't a very good fighter, indeed is he, because the guy hasn't lost a fight in almost five years while fighting top level guys. However, my gripe with the fight and with Shields in particular, is that I don't feel as if he tried to finish the fight. I'm still waiting on the stats for the fight to come out, but I remember Shields in the mount position countless times only to do minimal damage at best. Now some of the credit has to go to Jason "Mayhem" Miller for being tough as nails and defending well, so I definitely don't want to discredit him in this instance. I mean the guy has only been finished twice in more than 30 fights. However, Shields had the mount, side control, and back control several times throughout the fight and didn't come close to finishing Miller. A .gif and more is after the jump.

SBN coverage of Strikeforce: Emelianenko vs. Rogers

There were a couple of times that I can remember, where Shields was mounted on top of Miller and tried to rain down some punches. But the punches had very little on them, like he was afraid to commit to them in fear of being swept or bucked off. That's a very reasonable reason against a savvy veteran like Miller. However, at some point in the fight I think Shields should have tried to pound Miller out instead of looking for the submission. Especially considering that he was way ahead on the score cards(ok ok, I know you can't leave it to the judges, which is why I'm advocating him finishing his opponent!) Shields should have been doing this:

Brett Rogers Grounds and Pounds Fedor Emelianenko Strikeforce

I'm all for slick transitions on the ground and achieving dominant positions, but once there you have to inflict damage in my opinion. Otherwise, it becomes a grappling match and not MMA. This was the third time that Shields has fought on CBS in front of millions of viewers, yet he hasn't translated any of that into any 'star' power if you will. I'm not saying go out there and swing for the fences and totally negate his BJJ, but you have to go for the finish when the opportunity presents itself.

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yes jake shields did fight “not to lose” more than he did to stop miller, but i’m not sure that i can exactly blame him. you pointed out that miller deserves credit for being very durable and hard to stop, but he also deserves credit in making the fight boring as well. there were times where he just laid up against the fence looking for the ref to stand it back up instead of trying to get up himself. if miller had any sort of takedown defense (hell i think i could take miller down) this would have been a better fight, and he could have tried timing knees to the head when jake went for the takedown. like i pointed out in charles’s piece, everyone predicted this would be a boring 5 rnd dec win for shields.
i’m no jake shields nuthugger by any means, but i think he has a big money future with the ufc ,in which he probably will not get past most of the top 5, let alone gsp, but i can see him getting a decent signing bonus as long as he stays undefeated.
and i have always said it takes 2 fighters to make a boring fight. ;)

by bdw on Nov 9, 2009 6:05 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

But the punches had very little on them, like he was afraid to commit to them in fear of being swept or bucked off.

Even when he’s TRYING to put the hurt on someone from the top he doesn’t get it done. In the Daley fight he seemed to be in mount for days, but didn’t get a thing done. Shields is without a doubt a top fighter, but if he’s fighting a guy that he can’t sub, about all he’ll get done is get position and transition. Over and over. And it’s going to look god-awful boring.

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by -Neil- on Nov 9, 2009 7:10 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

Lay and Pray

As a U.S. fan of MMA, I like wrestling as much as the next guy (maybe more, considering all of the boos), but I really didn’t think Jake Shields’ performance was title worthy. I was VERY disappointed. I appreciate slick transitions into a dominant position, but if you don’t do ANYTHING while there, you shouldn’t get points (just for being on top). If I were judging a fight like this, not only would I NOT award points simply for being in a dominant position, I might deduct points for STALLING.

Also, I really think that if there had been a few more second left in the round, Miller would have subbed Shields. Nothing better than getting saved by the bell, I suppose.

In response to bdw, it doesn’t ALWAYS take 2 fighters to make a boring fight (as an example, Caleb Starnes vs. Nate Quarry. Quarry was trying to actually have a fight while Starnes was running a marathon and it was a boring “fight”)…

by CA76 on Nov 9, 2009 7:27 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

welcome to the site CA76...where are you from?

1. You kind of have to award something for getting a dominant position…but if you don’t capatilize..it shouldn’t count as much…I agree.

2. Shields definitely would have been sleep in 2-3 more seconds….son’s eyes had that ‘look’ in them…lol.

3. In response to bdw…I think Miller just laid there at times because Shields had both of his legs and he couldn’t really do anything….thus he didn’t want to expend energy for nothing…

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by Kelvin Hunt on Nov 9, 2009 8:23 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

cung le vs scott smith will go against wec's cerrone/ ratliff

we get versus and strikeforce fights out here. they just could not get the live cbs feed for the west coast. i don’t understand it but it did not matter. i was too busy watching college football. then at 9:05 pm west coast time it came on.

by wolfmanshowlforever on Nov 9, 2009 9:22 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

I mean GSP won over Alves mostly due to top-control and certain rounds there wasn’t a terrible amount of damage landed but the big difference was that he attempted strikes ALL THE TIME — that was a great 5-rounder, this wasn’t.

Bloody hell.

by 3PA on Nov 9, 2009 9:47 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

Exactly

I mean he never grabbed Alves and just laid on him for 30-40 seconds a clip…

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by Kelvin Hunt on Nov 9, 2009 10:42 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

That and GSP always improves his position constantly where Shields was content just to hold Miller’s legs most of the time. In Japan Shields would have gotten several yellow cards for that nonsence.

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by villin on Nov 10, 2009 8:44 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Jake WAS trying to finish the fight. He said several times before the fight that he wanted the Tapout. The talk was ALL about how no one could tap Miller, Jacare, GSP and many others had failed etc. He was throwing positional punches, 3-4 to the right and Miller moves left.
Shields said after the fourth round he thought about changing his game plan and just start using his dominate control to GnP Miller out. He said Mayhem was wearing down and he was getting position easier and with presser he might get the sub.,so he kept after it. I admit I wanted to see him tap Miller, but I also think (now) that changing to GnP would have been a better move.

by oakmantex on Nov 10, 2009 3:30 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

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