Should Jake Shields go back to Middleweight?

[TheBrownRanger]

Should Jake Shields finish his career at 185? I think it would be beneficial for him. Either way, I don't think he should go back to 170 at PFL.

- The weight cut could have taken a toll on him. Shields was fairly dominant at 185 in Strikeforce, beating Dan Henderson at the time was extremely impressive. Also beat Mayhem and subbed Hobbie Lawler. Also had the Strikeforce Middleweight Championship.
- He has noticeably been slower in the past few years. In lower weight classes, speed matters. This fucked Shields in his fights against Cooper III.
- PFL Middleweight is relatively weak compared to PFL Welterweight. 170 is clearly PFL's strongest weight class. Middleweight is almost the exact opposite. Even Doomsday Howard had a good chance at advancing to the finals and 7-3 Sadibou Sy did relatively well. Those two are dudes that Shields could beat.

Should he try 185 or hetire?

 

[Kinosis]

I always thought he should have stayed at 185 lbs. He looked worse at 170 lbs, even years ago.

 

[NoBiasJustMMA]

I don't think weight is the issue. He has always had bad takedowns and not much striking power, now he's older and he can't move as fast as he used to, take as much damage as he used to and his cardio isn't as good as it used to be so he's going to have a lot more trouble getting the fight where he needs to.

 

[Danespina]

Jake Shields was confronted with an opponent he had nothing for. I don't think weight had much to do with it. Just a bad matchup.

 

[Danespina]

beating Dan Henderson at the time was extremely impressive.

Important to note that Shields/Hendo looked nearly identical to Shields/Cooper, only Cooper was even more aggressive and able to put his opponent away.

 

[juanM3]

At this point in his career, if it's difficult for him to make WW, yeah why bother putting yourself through it? I see him doing okay at MW in PFL.

 

[chrisdiaz]

He needs to hang it up, you could tell he wanted no part of getting hit in both cooper fights.

 

[MMALOPEZ]

He needs to retire

 

[ThunderL1ps]

Why would anyone want to watch this guy fight?

 

[skylolow]

Time to just retire

 

[Kingz]

Nah

19 years
46 fights

Maybe it’s time for the old dusty trail

 

[Pumphrey94]

185 would be better if he chooses to keep fighting, but I think his time has passed.

 

[IMPmmath]

He should get a new hairstyle I didn't like the sideburns in his last fight.

 

[executionermma]

no, time to hang it up

 

[Workaholic]

Jake Shields should definitely not finish his career at MW

He should just finish his career

Hell of a career, but he's run his course