(Photo by Stephen Shugerman/Getty Images)
On that same night we saw another catchweight fight. This one was between Welterweight fighter Jake Shields and Middleweight fighter Robbie Lawler. The two men would meet at 182 pounds.
Many figured that Lawler would be able to use his superior striking and size to keep this fight on its feet and dismantle the BJJ black belt. Those people were wrong.
Although it looked that way for the first minute or so, Jake Shields would use his far superior submission skills to catch Lawler in a tight guillotine choke and force the top ten middleweight to tap out.
A shocking turn of events left Strikeforce in an odd predicament. In a night that saw two welterweights take on two middleweights, both welterweight fighters won.
Whats odd about that? No, it has nothing to do with the size of the fighters. It has to do with who the two winners were.
Both Jake Shields and Nick Diaz are trained in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu by the aforementioned Cesar Gracie. Both men are members of "Scrap Pack."
The "Scrap Pack" is a team of mixed martial artists that include Shields, Nick and Nate Diaz, Gilbert Melendez, and David Terrell.
Shields is the captain of the fight crew. But what happens when a fight crew contains the two best welterweights in one organization?
Obviously, Strikeforce can't force these two to fight, and I doubt that Cesar Gracie would approve of these two fighting each other. After all, fight crews are like families, and who better to know about family then a guy with the last name "Gracie."
One obvious solution would see Diaz move up to Middleweight. Diaz has shown that he has what it takes to run through the division, seeing as how he just dominated probably the second- or third-best guy in that division.
One big problem is that Diaz has said that he wants to stay at welterweight and fight at 170. Shields said the same thing. So much for that plan.
The most likely situation would see Jake Shields sign with the UFC when his contract expires. When asked about going to the UFC in an interview with our own Derek Bolender, Jake had this to say:
"That was definitely my No. 1 option. We were just trying to get the contract cleared. We were very ready to go to the UFC. At my weight, that is where the top competition is. I was pushing really hard to go to the UFC."
No doubt this scenario is likely to happen, especially considering Strikeforce really has nothing else to offer in the way of welterweight competition.
The UFC is currently home to nine of the top ten welterweight fighters in the world. The only fighter not fighting in the UFC is Jake Shields, who is ranked No. 4 by Sherdog.
Shields has only fought one of those nine fighters, Carlos Condit. Shields won that fight by decision back in 2006.
If Shields were to leave for the UFC, Diaz would be free to dominate the Strikeforce welterweights and have a long reign as champion.
Until that happens, Strikeforce really can't name a legitimate Welterweight champion. What they can do is continue to put on catchweight dream fights, and that should be enough to keep all of our attention.
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