UFC 129: Jake Shields Talks Jason Miller, Martin Kampmann Fight, & Making Weight

Jake Shields is just a week-and-a-half away from the biggest fight of his life when he takes on Georges St-Pierre so the UFC welterweight title at UFC 129.

Taking a break from training with guest partners Phil Davis and Chael Sonnen, as well as his regular Cesar Gracie Jiu-Jitsu teammates, Shields sat down and talked with ESPN’s Darius Ortiz. 

The video is posted below, but just to recap some highlights, Shields does not regret his actions at the Strikeforce: Nashville incident. 

Jason “Mayhem” Miller interrupted Shields post fight interview and asked “Where’s my rematch, buddy?” before Shields, Nick Diaz, and Gilbert Melendez got into a physical confrontation with Miller.

Shields said he did not land any clean shots, and only got one punch off. He explained, “I probably shouldn’t have done it…now I probably wouldn’t do it…but looking back if it happened again, I’d probably do the same thing.”

The next topic was Shields flat performance against Martin Kampmann, where Shields squeaked by with a split decision victory.

“It was a bad night, I’m tired of trying to make excuses, I had a horrible night that night. 

He continued, “that was probably the worst night I’ve had in six years or, but fortunately, on my worst night I was able to get through Kampmann; just glad it wasn’t GPS that night.”

Shields also said he expects to look better than he did against Dan Henderson when he takes on GSP on April 30. 

Ortiz than asked how big of an issue Shields weight cutting is. Prior to the Henderson fight, Shields said he was “walking around at 200 pounds. I had a lot of muscle, and not much fat, but I just thought the weight would come off easier. That’s my fault for not knowing.”

The welterweight contender also added, “I waited ‘til the last six weeks to get the weight off, and it just started sticking…so that was 100 percent my fault, there’s no one else to blame for that.”

Shields concluded by saying that he is currently walking around at 189 pounds, a number he considers “close” to the 170-pound welterweight limit.

Thanks to ESPN.com for posting the original video.