Strikeforce's Jake Shields Fighting for a Shot at Georges St-Pierre's UFC Title?

When Jake Shields faces off against Dan Henderson tonight, he may very well be fighting for the opportunity to face off against Georges St-Pierre for the UFC welterweight title.

Confused?

Let me explain why it's all a lot more likely than you might think.

Earlier reports and interviews suggested that Scott Coker has an option on an additional fight if Shields is able to upset Henderson tomorrow, but new articles like Dave Meltzer's recent piece tell a different tale.

According to Melzer, the true end of Shields' contract may have more to do with time than it has to do with a specific number of fights. Shields' management seems to think that they aren't obligated to take another fight and can just wait out the final months of the contract instead.

If Shields' management is correct, then waiting for free agency would likely land them a big offer from the UFC. Strikeforce could match that offer, but Shields drags down the Strikeforce ratings anyway, and would probably be more valuable to the UFC at that point.

Shields is a natural welterweight, and has arguable top five credentials in that division, and would be an ideal challenger for St-Pierre's title.

If Shields beats Henderson, he will be at the peak of his popularity, and the UFC will want to capitalize upon that momentum because St-Pierre has fought almost every worthy challenger in the welterweight division.

Some media folks have already started complaining about St-Pierre's lack of competition and have argued that the welterweight division is starting to become boring.

That being said, it's worth considering if Shields can make the welterweight division more exciting. His style isn't the most fan friendly, so if he adds excitement, it would need to come from the severity of the challenge that he represents.

Does Shields have a better shot against St-Pierre than potential re-matches with Fitch and Alves?

Heck no! St-Pierre is stylistic kryptonite for Shields because he's got unrivaled takedown defense and can basically pick Shields apart on the feet, but this is where the funny part comes in.

The part that I find hilarious about all of this is that the very writers who have been complaining about St-Pierre's lack of new challengers are by and large the same ones who have been supporting Strikeforce since they began to compete against the UFC.

These media folks have been doing hilariously awesome things like ranking Shields in the top three of both middleweight and welterweight divisions, putting him on pound-for-pound lists, and generally hyping him up to the moon.

After doing all that, they would look pretty silly if they starting complaining about him fighting St-Pierre.

So with Shields' hype at an all-time high, and with the media being fully supportive, the UFC could easily market a fight between Shields and St-Pierre.

My personal opinion is that titles should be contested by the most deserving fighters regardless of stylistic matchup, and so if Shields beats Henderson, I don't have a problem with the UFC giving him a title shot either.

Of course, the fight itself would probably be an absolute blowout, but that works out for the UFC as well.

A fight with Shields would give St-Pierre a perfect opportunity to showcase his striking, which hasn't been seen very much over the past few years since St-Pierre can take down his opponents so easily.

By this point in time, you're probably starting to feel bad for Shields.

Let me remind you that if Shields beats Henderson, his contract with the UFC will make him a lot of money. Win or lose, it'll give him an opportunity to fight the best in the world, something he's said he's wanted to do for a very long time.