UFC
UFC QUOTABLES: Jake Shields says Strikeforce doesn't push the right people, thinks Gilbert Melendez and Nick Diaz would be better off in the UFC
Oct 27, 2010 - 8:38:10 AM UFC QUOTABLES: Jake Shields says Strikeforce doesn't push the right people, thinks Gilbert Melendez and Nick Diaz would be better off in the UFC

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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

"Yes, of course [the UFC would be the better situation for Gilbert Melendez and Nick Diaz]. Strikeforce is a good organization. But ultimately, I feel they don't push the right people. I don't feel like Nick & Gilbert have gotten the attention they deserve. They pick guys like Cung Le to push. And they push Gina Carano and Frank Shamrock. But they have Nick and Gil, who are both top five fighters in the world. UFC would be the best spot for both of them.

Yeah, definitely [I had the same complaint while I was there]. In my first fight in the UFC, they gave me way more push than Strikeforce did the whole time I was there. The UFC just knows how to market. They know how to build stars and they know what they're doing. They're really professional.

It's been my dream for the last 10 years [to be the UFC Welterweight Champion]. It would be amazing. I have an opportunity in front of me to achieve that now. I'm going to work harder than ever for the next six months. The closer I get, the harder it makes me want to work."

-Jake Shields talks to MMAFighting.com about the differences between Strikeforce and the UFC and having his dream of becoming the UFC champion in his sights.

Penick's Analysis: It's not at all surprising to hear his take on Strikeforce. There is a reason he left while still their Champion. And he's right about Diaz and Melendez. Diaz has gotten more of a legitimate push from them than Melendez, but part of it is his own undoing after failing to go for a pre-fight drug test in the summer of '09 that took him out of a planned fight on the August card. But as for Shields, it was clear just from the UFC 121 push that the UFC did more for him in one fight than Strikeforce did for him the entire time he was their Champion. It just is what it is, but he's not wrong about who Strikeforce chooses to push.