Is Jake Shields Frustrated With Jason "Mayhem" Miller Or Strikeforce?
by Kelvin Hunt on Sep 4, 2009 8:00 AM EDT
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Last week Jason "Mayhem" Miller made the announcement that he was going to be fighting Jake Shields next, but backed down from that statement this week. He made the following statement to MMA Fanhouse:
After I announced that, they told me that's not finalized. The fight business is very finicky. For some reason, my manager came back to me and said, "They're not 100% sure." I don't know. I would love to beat up Jake Shields.
However, Jake Shields spoke with MMAWeekly and made the following statement:
People at Strikeforce told me Miller needed more time, so as far as what’s going on, I don’t know," he said. "Maybe he needed more time and was trying to pass it on.
He continues:
"I want to fight now," he continued. "I don’t want to be wasting time. I’m training for a certain type of fight, and I don’t want it to get pushed back. But I guess it happens, and I’ll deal with it. If Strikeforce offers me another opponent, I’ll definitely take another opponent," he said. "I’d like to fight Miller, but I’ll fight someone else. I’d rather fight now.
Shields admits that he and Miller are 'cool' with one another, Shields has even appeared on Miller's MTV show "Bully Beatdown". However, it seems as if sitting idol is not in Shield's best interest. Jake Shields was interested in fighting Cung Le, but Le is too busy filming movies so Strikeforce was going to create an interim title fight. The winner of that fight would face Cung Le. Jake Shields has had a few names thrown at him as potential opponents like Matt Lindland who recently signed with Strikeforce. However, the latest name was Jason "Mayhem" Miller and it's apparent that Shields is growing restless with all the uncertainties of his next fight. In fact, he doesn't even know when that will take place, much less who his opponent will be. It should be noted that these type of things happen when promotions have very thin rosters. However, Jake Shields has shown major interest in going to fight for the UFC in the past so keeping him happy should be a top priority. Right now, that doesn't seem to be the case with the uncertainty of who his opponent will be and when he'll fight next.
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Yeah, Shields definitely seems to want to keep as buy as possible, but having fought just three months ago, how busy does he want to be? With the way it’s going, I’d almost suspect that he’s trying to run out hos EliteXC Strikeforce contract so he can go fight with the big boys…
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yea
that’s the impression I’m getting…I guess he feels as if he’s getting the run around ya know? As one of the better fighters under the Strikeforce banner…you’d think he’d be more ‘in the know’ bout things that surround who and when he’ll be fighting…he fought 3 months ago…so you’d think they would have another opponent nailed down so he can get training camp underway…with the way this is going…he’s going to be fighting every 5-6 months instead of every 3…
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Yep, but when you come down to it, what should he expect? Shields is a fairly large fish in a pond that seems to be on the small side, and asking for compelling fights every three months just isn’t realistic from a promotion like Strikeforce. How many Mayhems can they really pull out of the hat? Strikeforce isn’t on the UFC’s every month PPV schedule, and with their lack of talent they probably never will be. The way I see it, they’ve got Mayhem, Jacare, maybe Lindland as possible opponents for Shields, but that’s about it. I’d like to know how many fights he has on his contract…
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Yea
He’s probably also frustrated that he basically had to accept the Strikeforce contract…since it would have cost him more money/time to fight it…If I recall correctly…I think he has 2 more fights on this contract…I could be wrong on that…but it’ll be interesting to see what he does once that contract is up…which brings up to the champions clause that I brought up last month…he might not be able to leave if he’s crowned a Strikeforce Champion.
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You make a good point, but does Strikeforce HAVE a championship clause? I know that was one of the sticking points with Fedor on signing with the UFC (at least it was before certain people started crying about the lack of M-1 co-promotion). Methinks some research is in order!
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Neil
I’m not 100% sure…but I think they do…it would be pretty stupid of them NOT to have one…otherwise their fighters will just get poached like a mofo…lol.
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I don’t know the particulars either but we don’t hear about a champ clause b/c of Strikeforce’s willingness to work with other orgs.
Overeem and Cung Le seem to have a lot of freedom.
by The Real T-Bone on Sep 4, 2009 1:49 PM EDT up reply actions
Yea
But both fighters contracts were signed before the Strikeforce acquisition of EliteXC as well.
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Yeah, you might be right. Found this…
http://www.mmaplayground.com/forums/topic35498-1.html
He claims to be citing an MMA Payout article (which I can’t find), but the verbiage seems legally enough for me.
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Yep
I remember reading that piece…from here on out…I would bet that all Strikeforce champions will have a champions clause in their contracts…
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His last fight was like two minutes long so it’s not as if he can’t turn around and fight again quickly. I think he trains all the time so he’s always in shape. It’s time to go out, test himself and get paid.
This probably isn’t a real big deal but in this day of 24/7 coverage, every little thing can be made into something. Of course I could be wrong and he’s being given the run around but that wouldn’t be the first time a fighter is kept in the dark about an opponent and a time frame.
by The Real T-Bone on Sep 4, 2009 11:18 AM EDT reply actions
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