UFC 129: Jake Shields Loving Underdog Role, Plans to Spoil GSP vs. Silva Talks

It seems everybody is looking past former Strikeforce middleweight champion Jake Shields and already talking about a mega-fight between Georges St. Pierre and Anderson Silva.

I'll admit, I'm guilty of looking past him as well.

But it seems Shields is loving the idea of yet again being the underdog for his big fight with GSP on April 30th in Canada for UFC 129.

“I love this role. I love getting looked past,” Shields said during a Tuesday press conference. “It’s exactly the same as (Dan) Henderson. Strikeforce was trying to throw me out on a loss, but I definitely had different plans. I went out there planning on spoiling it...and that’s exactly what I’m planning on doing here.” 

Shields fought Henderson last year to defend his Strikeforce title, and boy, did he defend it. It was a five-round decision victory that was just too satisfying for Shields.

Even UFC President Dana White isn't looking past Shields.

“He just fought Dan Henderson at 185 pounds,” White said. “Anybody who’s ever covered mixed martial arts in this room—probably even his training camp—didn’t think he was gonna win that fight. Not only did he win that fight, he dominated Dan Henderson.” 

Shields is coming off a lackluster performance against Martin Kampmann at UFC 121, where he seemed to fail to ride the hype he had built after beating MMA great Dan Henderson.

Shields will be fighting in front of what could be record-shattering attendance for an MMA fight at the Rogers Centre in Toronto. Of course, the fight is in GSP's backyard, so the home crowd advantage is already working for GSP.

“I think this fight will mostly be based off skill, but there’s gonna be some emotion as well. When you’ve got 40- or 50,000 fans screaming and yelling, it’s impossible to hold emotion out. But we’re definitely fighters that try to use our heads and skills," said Shields.

If Shields can dethrone GSP at UFC 129, he will all but shatter the hopes of a mega-fight between Anderson Silva and GSP. Silva and GSP are considered the top two pound-for-pound fighters in the world by numerous MMA outlets.

Shields is a 6-1 underdog for his big championship fight this April. If Shields can play spoiler and be the guy who dethrones St. Pierre, especially in Canada, hey, more power to him. Then maybe the attention shifts right over to Silva vs. Jon Jones if Jones wins the Light Heavyweight crown.

Don't count Shields out versus GSP. Hey, anything is possible, right?