Jake Shields is in one of the most unique situations a fighter can be in following his Strikeforce Middleweight championship title victory over Jason "Mayhem" Miller on Saturday night at Strikeforce: Fedor vs. Rogers. While he doesn't actually hold two titles at the same time, a feat only obtained by former PRIDE welterweight and middleweight champion Dan Henderson, Shields is currently Strikeforce's best welterweight fighter on paper while also holding the belt at middleweight. Interestingly enough, Shields holds the belt at his unnatural weight mostly due to the fact that he stepped up in weight to help Strikeforce promoter Scott Coker fill a need for a quality bout.
There is now a more evident problem with the current situation within Strikeforce's welterweight and middleweight divisions. Shields is now a title holder in a weight class that isn't his ideal weight, and he's considered by most fans to be a fairly undersized middleweight fighter. His performance against the lankier and bigger Jason "Mayhem" Miller wasn't an impressive performance by any means, and the road at 185 pounds only gets tougher if Strikeforce legitimately matches Shields up against high-level talent.
Miller's escapes from the constant flow of transitions to full mount was impressive, but Shields' inability to put any power into his gloves when in a dominating position was the bigger surprise. We knew Shields wasn't a heavy-handed crusher on the feet or in the ground striking department, but his inability to damage Miller was underwhelming. Shields grappled his way to victory in an unpleasing fashion, but the performance didn't inspire confidence in fans that Shields could run the table of challengers at 185 pounds.
Shields is a natural welterweight fighter, and his reign at 185 pounds likely won't last long. With contenders like Matt Lindland and Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza possibly being in the mix for a shot at Shields' new hardware, it isn't looking like Shields' streak of wins will continue for much longer. Furthermore, his performance probably didn't put a whole lot of confidence in creating those match-ups since both Lindland and Souza are ground specialists. Lindland could easily come in much heavier, and his wrestling experience could smother the BJJ grappler. Souza, on the other hand, offers superior jiu-jitsu abilities along with some solid power, an attribute that is a direct benefit from the added weight.
Unfortunately, Strikeforce's welterweight roster is lacking. Marius Zaromskis has been signed to a deal with Strikeforce, and DREAM might float Hayato "Mach" Sakurai to Strikeforce for a bout with Shields. Shields stands a solid chance of defeating both fighters as both men would rather strike than grapple, but Sakurai is well past his prime and Zaromskis is only one fight.
What are the options? Shields is in a strange dilemma. At middleweight, there are more options that are better for helping Shields win impressively in the middle of the division. He could submit guys like Scott Smith, Joey Villasenor, Robbie Lawler, and Frank Shamrock, but now he's the champion. He'll have to contend with fighters who could beat him badly in Matt Lindland and Ronaldo Souza. On the other hand, he could take the one major fight Strikeforce has for him at welterweight in Marius Zaromskis, which isn't exactly a pushover fight. If he wins, then what? He's a champion in two divisions at the same time with nobody to really fight but middleweights.
I imagine Jake Shields is getting a bit tired of moving up in weight, and I wouldn't be at all surprised if we see Shields in the free agent market in talks with the UFC following his contract completion. He'll likely be jockeying for fights in which he can impressively finish in order to gain momentum with the casual fanbase as well as give him more bargaining power when it comes to contract talks. Lindland and Souza don't give him that, so it'll be interesting to see who Shields wants to fight versus who Coker actually matches him up with in the future. Cung Le is obviously a fight that both Coker and Shields want, but I am under the impression that Shields is right -- Cung isn't interested because he probably thinks a loss right now will hurt his movie career, and Shields will submit Cung if it goes to the floor. Regardless of my opinion, the fight needs to happen.