Fighters.com's November Middleweight Rankings - Is Jake Shields the Antidote to Anderson Silva's Dominance?
By: Chad Edward Posted On: November 10, 2009 at 11:56pm
Fighters.com’s second-ranked middleweight Jake Shields (23-4-1) cemented his status as top contender to Fighters.com and UFC Middleweight Champion “Spider” Anderson Silva‘s (25-4) titles and picked up the Strikeforce strap himself in a five-round unanimous decision over former top ten and nails-tough “Mayhem” Jason Miller (22-7) at Strikeforce in Chicago November 7.
Shields reminded Fighters.com of Welterweight Champion “Rush” Georges St. Pierre (19-2) during his relentless press on the mat versus Miller. Of course, Shields doesn’t have St. Pierre’s striking skills, and no one is in Silva’s striking league. But, Shields shows no pretense of fancying himself a striker either.
At the opening bell Saturday night, Shields put Miller right on his back. Both fighters were working their game plan. Shields is going to put every opponent on their back. Knowing that, Miller relented and hoped to wear Shields out by going rag-doll while defending Shields’s submission attempts. But, Shields never wore down Saturday night and walked away with a UD and the Strikeforce title.
Now, if Silva has an exploitable weakness, it’s been on his back. Versus “Serial Killer” Travis Lutter (10-5) at UFC 67 in Las Vegas in February 2007, Lutter briefly took control of the fight from top position before wearing down and succumbing to Silva’s barrage of elbows. Third-ranked “Hollywood” Dan Henderson (24-7) was the first UFC fighter to win a round versus Silva and he did it from top position in the first round at UFC 82 in Columbus in March 2008, before fancying himself a striker and getting knocked silly and choked out in the second round. That mistake still stings Henderson to no end.
But, Shields wouldn’t make the mistake Henderson made versus Silva. Nor would he be so intimidated to shoot like former UFC title challenger Thales Leites (14-3) was at UFC 97 in Montreal April 18 that he’d just lay down and invite Silva into his guard. Shields would take the fight to Silva and put him on his back.
Obviously, that guarantees nothing at all. Despite looking beatable on his back at times, Silva has always regained his superiority and won in the UFC. However, it’s interesting to note that two of Silva’s losses in the mysterious time before he emerged as the greatest middleweight in MMA history were by triangle choke to Daiju Takase (7-12-1) at PRIDE 26 in Yokohama in June 2003 and by flying scissor heel hook to “Piranha” Ryo Chonan (16-10) at PRIDE Shockwave 2004 in Tokyo on New Year’s Eve 2004.
I’m not ready to predict that Shields would beat Silva. Only that Shields has the best shot at beating Silva among the current field of top ten middleweights.
And that field thinned in November as previously ninth-ranked “Ace” Rich Franklin (26-5) dropped out of the top ten for the first time since Fighters.com began ranking divisions. In his place, and the place of previous perenial top tenner “Sexyama” Yoshihiro Akiyama (14-2) who also fell out of the rankings this month, “Ely” Paulo Filho (15-1) skipped up to the eighth spot, “Jacare” Ronaldo Souza (8-2) moved into number nine, and “Phenom” Vitor Belfort (18-8) claimed the final position.
Third-ranked “Hollywood” Dan Henderson (25-7), fourth-ranked “Great” Nate Marquardt (29-8-2), fifth-ranked “Dreamcatcher” Gegard Mousasi (23-2-1), sixth-ranked Demian Maia (10-1), and seventh-ranked Chael Sonnen (23-10-1) all held steady.
Fighters.com’s November Middleweight Rankings
1. “Spider” Anderson Silva (25-4)
2. Jake Shields (24-4-1)
3. “Hollywood” Dan Henderson (25-7)
4. “Great” Nate Marquardt (29-8-2)
5. “Dreamcatcher” Gegard Mousasi (23-2-1)
6. Demian Maia (10-1)
7. Chael Sonnen (23-10-1)
8. “Ely” Paulo Filho (15-1)
9. “Jacare” Ronaldo Souza (8-2)
10. “Phenom” Vitor Belfort (18-8)
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Comments
wow, whoever wrote this is a fkin idiot lol u honestly think that jake shields is the #2 middleweight in the world……….silva would end his fkin life
well gowamma.com has jake shields as the number 9 out of ten
So i agree that number two may be a little bit much but he definately deserves to be above a lot of those guys but not all of them…
If you think about it jake shields has won his last 13 fights in a row…
Strikeforce ran out of competition for him because he cleared out the welterweight division
then they thought if he fought robbie lawler at a catch weight lawler would give him problems… but jake submitted him by standing guillitine choke in the beginning of the fight…
so then they have him move up to middleweight and fight the best middleweight they could sign jason mayhem miller and have them fight him for the title… he won the title
and regardless of what anyone thinks you cant change the fact that he has won 13 straight and he doesnt show signs of stopping….
he deserves a high rank at least unless he loses…. which looks like might not happen anytime soon…
unless strikeforce signs dan hendorson and have jake fight hendo for the title
i would love to see that fight and if jake could beat hendo i feel then he would deserve the #2 ranking
jake wins 1 fight at middleweight over barely top 15 mayhe ( a fight in which jake didnt have a single replayable highlight) and hes above hendo, marquardt, belfort, mousasi? the guy has 0 stand up skills, good wrestling and good but overrated bjj. he wont be afraid like hendo? jake has been afraid to stand with everyone hes ever fought. he got choked by mayhem and should have been finished. the guy would pull a thales leites against anderson except jake wouldn’t go the distance. and if youre going by winning streaks mousasi has won 14 straight znd hes well rounded. dan would destroy shields bc hed be forced to stand, hendo had trouble taking anderson down so jake wont. he gets KOed by all the guys you got in 1-6 spots. bc your a fan of JOKE shields dont mean you should write drap like this. you lost any credibility you ever had
Man, I think u r drunk or stoned… Jake Shields is nothing near Spider. No comments at all…
haven’t seen much of Jake Shields, but of what I did see, he stands nowhere near Silva. What could he possibly have to beat Silva? all he can do is submit people… I completely agree that to prove this high ranking, Henderson is the guy to beat.
Jake Shields to challenge The Spyder? Seriously? Whoever wrote this article needs to lay off the hallucinogenics. That fight would last exactly 7 seconds, the amout of time it took Anderson to come across the cage and rip Shields head off.
honetly, I know it truly sucks for Silva wanting to be a champion of more than one division, but, I think if he beats Vitor, has one more fight in LHW, he should get a title shot immediately. And if the UFC wants an even more challenging set up for Silva, why not bring him up to HW? Put him against one of the top contenders, if he manages to beat him, Silva all the way!! Silva vs. Lesnar. He would be the greatest legend of UFC history if he could hold three titles at once, just in time for him to retire. If he couldn’t pull off the win with Lesnar, give him a title defence in LHW, and he can retire.
I think you are right about Jake Shields and A. Silva, I was at the Silva vs Okami fight, Okami got a good take down and was putting on some pretty good GnP when Silva hit him with the illegal kick.
The Honolulu Newspaper said the next day that Silva’s camp asked two questions about kicks to the head of a fighter on his Knees but over a fighter on his back. Silva was there, so he knew, and used the kick because he was eating punches n elbows. It is the reason the UFC kept him away from there popular striker.
The other examples you used were valid. I think Silva is a better match up for Shields than Hendo. Shields is KING KONG at WW and he can compete with the best at MW.