As Jake Shields enters the last fight on his current EliteXC contract to take on Mike Pyle, it will not be for a title as the Cesar Gracie-trained student originally thought. But he still plans on bringing an exciting pace to the show and make his opponent pay for taking away the championship opportunity.
“I definitely was ready for a title fight,” said Shields. “He took the title away from me by not fighting me (for it). I’m sure he has his reasons. It still kind of pisses me off. I’m going to go out there and take it out on him.”
Pyle was not notified of the bout being a five-round title bout until about five weeks prior and determined that wasn’t enough training time. He subsequently opted for a three-round non-title fight instead.
Since his last loss in late 2004, Shields has put together eight wins in a row over many top opponents. Lately it seems his motivation has moved to finishing his opponents with punishing stoppages.
“I think I just keep getting better and better and I’m just going out there going for the kill,” he said about his dominance of late. “I want to go out there and show people that I can finish people and be exciting and destroy people and that’s what I’m going to be doing to Mike Pyle.”
Both fighters are considered top welterweights and superior ground technicians and while Shields respects his opponent’s overall skill, he plans on using his wrestling ability and strength to his advantage.
“Definitely a good chance I’m going to put him on his back and drop some elbows on his face,” he stated. “Everyone keeps saying he has good stand-up, that he’s pretty slick on his feet, really slick on the ground also, but since the ground’s my specialty that’s probably where I’m going to end up wanting to take it.”
The focus of the fight is obviously on Shields and Pyle, but it can’t be ignored that both fighters come from two of the top camps in the United States with Shields training out of Cesar Gracie’s fight team and Pyle training and teaching at Xtreme Couture in Las Vegas.
“I want to show that Cesar Gracie’s the real deal and especially with all the hype around Couture right now and all the hype around that gym,” said Shields with pride about his fight team. “That gym’s been there like six months, we’ve been together for like eight years, so there’s a big difference. We’re a real team, they’re a bunch of fighters out there training together.”
The talk about championships and training camps will come to a stop Saturday night when Shields and Pyle meet in the cage, and the top-ten welterweight has an adamant prediction for his opponent.
“Me by TKO or submission in the second or third,” said Shields emphatically.
“I definitely was ready for a title fight,” said Shields. “He took the title away from me by not fighting me (for it). I’m sure he has his reasons. It still kind of pisses me off. I’m going to go out there and take it out on him.”
Pyle was not notified of the bout being a five-round title bout until about five weeks prior and determined that wasn’t enough training time. He subsequently opted for a three-round non-title fight instead.
Since his last loss in late 2004, Shields has put together eight wins in a row over many top opponents. Lately it seems his motivation has moved to finishing his opponents with punishing stoppages.
“I think I just keep getting better and better and I’m just going out there going for the kill,” he said about his dominance of late. “I want to go out there and show people that I can finish people and be exciting and destroy people and that’s what I’m going to be doing to Mike Pyle.”
Both fighters are considered top welterweights and superior ground technicians and while Shields respects his opponent’s overall skill, he plans on using his wrestling ability and strength to his advantage.
“Definitely a good chance I’m going to put him on his back and drop some elbows on his face,” he stated. “Everyone keeps saying he has good stand-up, that he’s pretty slick on his feet, really slick on the ground also, but since the ground’s my specialty that’s probably where I’m going to end up wanting to take it.”
The focus of the fight is obviously on Shields and Pyle, but it can’t be ignored that both fighters come from two of the top camps in the United States with Shields training out of Cesar Gracie’s fight team and Pyle training and teaching at Xtreme Couture in Las Vegas.
“I want to show that Cesar Gracie’s the real deal and especially with all the hype around Couture right now and all the hype around that gym,” said Shields with pride about his fight team. “That gym’s been there like six months, we’ve been together for like eight years, so there’s a big difference. We’re a real team, they’re a bunch of fighters out there training together.”
The talk about championships and training camps will come to a stop Saturday night when Shields and Pyle meet in the cage, and the top-ten welterweight has an adamant prediction for his opponent.
“Me by TKO or submission in the second or third,” said Shields emphatically.