Dana White on Jake Shields: "We want him."

*Please visit FiveKnuckles.com for more mixed martial arts media*

UFC President Dana White has made it clear: he wants Jake Shields in the UFC.

While the Strikeforce middleweight champion is now at the end of his contract, White is looking to make him a deal so that he does not renew his current one.

"We want him," White told Versus at WEC 48. "His contract is up in - whatever it is - 60 days, 40 days, I've heard lots of different things. As soon as his contract's over, he's gonna call me. If Strikeforce wants to keep him, they're gonna have to pay him an ass-load of money."

White said that Strikeforce disrespected Shields, setting him up for a loss when they put him against Dan Henderson in his last fight under the current contract. Only problem was: Shields beat Henderson. Then, White said, they threw Jason Miller in the cage to ask for a rematch, hopefully pushing Shields to stay with Strikeforce should he choose to defend his belt.

Even though Shields is with a different organization, he and White are no stranger to one another.

"I think Jake Shields is a great guy," said White. "He came in as an assistant coach on The Ultimate Fighter. Couldn't be a nicer kid, I've always liked him."

To catch glimpses of Shields during TUF 11, tune into Spike TV on Wednesday nights at 10 p.m.