Why Jake Shields Is A Good Signing for the UFC

Many MMA sites and talking heads have already commented on the UFC's signing of Jake Shields.

The reviews seem to range from lukewarm to poor.

Bloodyelbow.com's Luke Thomas was virtually alone in describing Shields as "undoubtedly one of the most exciting and intriguing free agent additions ever to the UFC."

Mostly everybody else finally seems to have come on board with the idea that I've been saying for a while now.  Shields is very highly skilled and highly ranked. However, he's not an exciting fighter, nor a ratings draw.

That said, this is a good signing for the UFC.

Jonathan Snowden, also of Bloodyelbow.com, was critical of the singing, saying that "If you're the UFC right now, it might be time to wonder why Strikeforce is snickering."

Jonathan Snowden is of course no stranger to controversy. He was more than willing to cite Josh Barnett's criticisms of UFC's attempts to change the regulations of Pride FC in Japan. Of course, one regulation in particular comes to mind as a reason why Josh Barnett fights in Japan.

Anyway, back to the matter at hand.

I highly doubt that Strikeforce's brass still have good enough spirits to be snickering after Fedor Emelianenko's loss, and the Nashville disaster.

The more important thing to point out is that while Jake Shields did little good for Strikeforce, that doesn't mean that he isn't a good asset for the UFC.

Strikeforce needed Shields to sell tickets and be a ratings draw—two things he doesn't do.

The UFC doesn't need Shields to be a ratings draw.

All they need him to do is fight his way to a title shot, or lose and grant title contender credibility to his conqueror.

As I said before Shields was signed:

"Dana White is consistently harassed by fans and media alike about putting together a fight between Georges St. Pierre and Anderson Silva.

Most people think there are no other worthy title challengers for St. Pierre at 170 pounds, and that talk is only going to intensify if St. Pierre is successful against Josh Koscheck.

Dana White may soon have no other option but to throw St. Pierre and Silva together in a match. While he could stand to make a lot of money quickly, he could also lose significant asset value in the long run.

Because Jake Shields and Nick Diaz haven't been facing UFC competition, they have been getting a lot of attention for deserving a crack at St. Pierre, but haven't had one yet.

If Dana White matched up St. Pierre opposite Shields, there would be few cries of outrage like there were when St. Pierre was paired up against Dan Hardy, who isn't seen as a contender up to the standard that St. Pierre had already fought in BJ Penn, Jon Fitch, and Josh Koscheck.

Long story short, Jake Shields could buy Dana White time.

Time to move Anderson Silva up to 205 pounds.

Time to build up another marketable contender for Georges St. Pierre."

There is only one possible bad outcome to this whole thing for the UFC.

If he beat St. Pierre, the UFC would stand to lose millions.