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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief
Jake Shields wasn't able to implement his dominant skillset against Yoshihiro Akiyama on Saturday night at UFC 144, but he did manage to out-strike him en route to taking a unanimous decision win in Japan.
Akiyama dropped to welterweight for the first time, and while he was able to stop almost all of Shields' takedown attempts, he found himself on the losing end of the proceedings as Shields stayed busy throughout the three round fight. Akiyama had two beautiful trips/throws in the fight, but couldn't keep Shields down and didn't do a lot offensively.
Shields finally took Akiyama down in the final minute, but only after Akiyama grabbed the fence twice to stop him earlier. He nearly finished things with a rear naked choke, but time ran out. The win bounced him back from two straight losses in 2011, while Akiyama has now lost four straight inside the Octagon.
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Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
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