Sherdog’s Top 10: Greatest Strikeforce Fighters

9. Jake Shields

On one hand, Shields' Strikeforce career consisted of a paltry three fights. On the other hand, each was a massively impressive victory, so much so that I had him sixth on my list. His prime occurred in Strikeforce, where he was arguably the most fearsome ground fighter in MMA, seamlessly blending wrestling and grappling, with perhaps the best top control we've ever seen—Khabib Nurmagomedov included. Those who rolled with Shields claimed it was like having a 300-pound man on top of you. Debuting in Strikeforce as the EliteXC welterweight king, Shields faced future UFC welterweight champion Robbie Lawler at middleweight, with the latter having the size advantage. Lawler was also a small favorite, but Shields easily disposed of him, tapping him with a guillotine choke in a little over two minutes. He then faced a very tough contender in Jason Miller for the middleweight title, years before Miller became a sad and tragic tale. Miller seemed like he might be able to match Shields' grappling and had a striking and size edge, but instead Shields largely dominated him over five rounds. However, Shields’ final appearance in Strikeforce would be his most impressive. He faced Dan Henderson, a big middleweight who built a daunting legend by beating some of the best light heavyweights and heavyweights ever, having knocked out Wanderlei Silva a few years prior. Henderson would go on to knock out the greatest heavyweight, Fedor Emelianenko, followed by defeating another one of the very best 205-pounders ever, reigning UFC light heavyweight champion Mauricio Rua, but against a blown-up welterweight in Shields, whom Henderson was heavily favored to beat, he would be dominated, as Shields took down the former Olympic wrestler at will and battered him from the top, with Henderson unable to dislodge him. It is difficult to convey just how jaw-dropping that performance was to watch live. It just didn't seem possible to have this much grappling dominance over a former Olympic wrestler and much larger opponent. I wouldn't have this feeling again until years later when watching Nurmagomedov’s fights. After that triumph, Shields jumped to the UFC, where he had some major wins, but couldn't dethrone Georges St. Pierre. Still, it's hard to imagine a more impressive three-fight run than what he did in Strikeforce.

Continue Reading » Number 8