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Jake Shield was home-schooled and raised in Mountain Ranch, a remote of part of California's Sierra Nevada Mountains. As the child of hippie parents, Jake had long hair which made him a frequent target of other kids which lead to fights. With his older brothers, Shields was active in caving, mountain biking and snowboarding. At age 9, Shields started competing in sports and took up wrestling, just as his older brothers had. While attending Calaveras High School, Shields competed in the Amateur Athletic Union National Freestyle Championships and later qualified for the U.S.A/Fila Nationals & World Team Trials in different divisions. Shields became a two time All American at Cuesta College.
In September 1999, while attending Cuesta College, Shields began MMA training at SLO Kickboxing Academy after meeting its owner, Chuck Liddell, who encouraged him to try the sport. A month later, it was due to an injured teammate which leads to Shields, a natural welterweight, competing at middleweight for his first professional MMA fight. Shields was a spectator at a California's Cobra Fighting Federation (CCFF) event, when he offered to fill a vacant spot. In his first MMA bout, as he defeated Paul Harrison by TKO in round one. In his second bout, also in CCFF, he won by way of unanimous decision. Shields suffered defeat for the first time in his third bout at the doings of Marty Armendarez by technical knockout in 'International Fighting Championships (Film, Video and Audio Stock)'. Two months later Shields got a victory over Shannon Ritch by a choke submission. Shields' return to IFC was unsuccessful as the first time. He lost unanimously to Phillip Miller. Shields earned a wrestling scholarship to attend San Francisco State University. In 2001 he relocated to San Luis Obispo to attend the university and then joined Cesar Gracie's gym which conveniently near his home. His time at Cesar Gracie Jiu Jitsu is credited for his grappling skills which lead him to compete in numerous notable grappling tournaments such as the Pan American, Grapplers Quest, Pan Am Submission and Abu Dhabi Combat Club in between MMA competition. (Shields holds grappling competition victories over Jon Fitch, Vinny Magalhaes and Diego Sanchez). He won unanimously over Tracy Hess at Gladiator Challenge's "Gladiator Challenge 3" event. At Gladiator Challenge 6 he submitted Jeremy Jackson by rear-naked choke after two minutes. That same year he attended university was when Shields decided on a career as a MMA fighter. He moved down in weight to compete as a welterweight at Gladiator Challenge 6, defeating Robert Ferguson by decision. Shields' winning streak was ended by Ray Cooper in the Warriors Quest promotion, as he lost by majority decision. Despite the loss to Cooper, Shields was offered his biggest MMA fight at that point and travel to Japan to fight top ranking Hayato Sakurai in Shooto. With thirteen days to prepare, Shields believed the late notice was a sign he was brought in to lose to one of the promotion's top fighters. Shields won by using his wrestling to control Sakurai on the ground for much of the fight. In his next Shooto bout, he won unanimously over Milton Vieira, and had similar success when he fought Akira Kikuchi in his third Shooto fight. In an appearance for the Pancrase promotion, Shields fought Kazuo Misaki to a draw. In his most decisive bout as a middleweight, he submitted Ray Cooper by rear-naked choke in the first round, winning the vacant Shooto Middleweight championships. The event was promoted by Shooto Americas, an offshoot of Shooto. The first challenger for the title was Akira Kikuchi whom Shields previously defeated in 2003. Kikuchi won their second encounter by unanimous decision, becoming the new Shooto middleweight champion.
After the loss to Kikuchi, an injury kept Jake Shields out of competition for eleven months before he next fought and got the decision win over Toby Imada at Kage Kombat. Shields entered a Grand Prix to inaugurate a welterweight champion at Rumble on the Rock 8 as part of a tournament qualifying match. He defeated Dave Menne in a quarterfinal bout to advance. At Rumble on the Rock 9, he surpassed Yushin Okami then Carlos Condit in victories by unanimous victories to become the Rumble on the Rock welterweight title. Shields never defended the Rumble on the Rock welterweight title, and next fought in Full Contact Promotions thereafter, beating Steve Berger by technical knockout in round two. In early 2007,Shields fought Ray Steinbeiss in the BodogFight (2006) promotion. Shields won by guillotine choke submission almost 90 seconds in the bout. At K-1 Hero's Dynamite!! USA event in June 2007, he took on Ido Pariente. He took down Pariente early, then landed strikes before securing a choke submission within two minutes. Around this time Shields agreed to fight Frank Trigg whom at the time was announcing for Pride Fighting Championships (2006). Trigg, who has been frequently critical of Shields, reneged and publicly scorned the idea that any promotion would care enough to have a bout between them. Shields signed with a 3-fight contract "Elite XC" (2007), and fought in September 2007 at Uprising (2007) against Renato Verissimo. Shields won by technical knockout at the 4-minute mark. Shields next fought Mike Pyle] at Renegade (2007). Shields controlled the ground action as he landed punches from the top before obtaining a rear-naked choke victory. Shields next competed against Nick Thompson to inaugurate the Elite XC (2007) welterweight champion at Episode #1.2 (2008). Shields quickly took Thompson to the ground, and secured a one-handed guillotine choke submission in one minute to become the EliteXC welterweight champion. Paul Daley challenged Shields for the title at Episode #1.3 (2008), "Heat". Shields submitted Daley by arm-bar in the first round to defend the title. "Heat" was the third and final Elite XC (2007) event to be aired on CBS television. Later that month, the promotion closed permanently due to severe financial losses, while Shields and several other fighters remained under contract and could not compete in other fight promotions.
Post Elite-XC, Jake Shields' immediate future remained uncertain until March 2009, when Strikeforce (2006), under the leadership of CEO Scott Coker, purchased the contracts of former "Elite XC" (2007) fighters, including that of Shields. Joe Riggs was going to be Shields' first opponent in Strikeforce , however plans were changed, and in June 2009 Shields moved up to the middleweight division to face Robbie Lawler at a catch-weight maximum182 pounds in the main event at Strikeforce: Lawler vs. Shields (2009). Lawler was the aggressor and attacked with punches and avoided the take-down tries by Shields. Shields connected with kicks before getting a hold of Lawler's neck for the guillotine choke submission. After Cung Le vacated the Strikeforce middleweight championship that September, Shields and Jason Mayhem Miller were named as the competitors for the vacant title. Shields and Miller fought that November at CBS Strikeforce M-1 Global Saturday Night Fights (2009). In the Strikeforce (2006) middleweight championship bout, Shields controlled Miller on the ground for most of the bout. As a result, Shields won by unanimous decision on the judges' score cards to become the new Strikeforce (2006) middleweight champion. Shields would defend the middleweight championship against the newly signed Dan Henderson in the main event at CBS Strikeforce Saturday Night Fights (2010). It would be Strikeforce's second televised card on CBS. A right hand from Henderson sends Shields to the ground early and he survived by putting Henderson on the defensive with a right leg lock. Shields would recover, and control Henderson on the ground for all five rounds. Shields defended the Strikeforce middleweight title by unanimous decision from the judges. As he was interviewed by Gus Johnson, Jason Mayhem Miller, who had competed earlier on the card, interrupted the interview to ask Shields about a rematch. Shields first shoved him and his Cesar Gracie Jiu Jitsu training partners-- Nick Diaz, Gilbert Melendez, and Nate Diaz-joined in and attacked Miller. The ensuing chaos became known as the "Strikeforce Brawl" and some questioned if the incident would hurt the still emerging sport. Johnson resumed his interview with Shields, who apologized for what happened. The bout was the last contracted fight for Shields, and Dana White, UFC President Dana White, publicly played up the perceived tension between Shields and Strikeforce to campaign for Shields to sign with UFC, along with his announced plans to drive up Shields' value. Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker stated his intent to not get in a bidding war for Shields. After an exclusive negotiating period ended, neither Shields nor Strikeforce could agree on the terms of a new contract. Shields was released from all his contractual obligations near the end of June, and he later negotiated a deal with Ultimate Fighting Championship (2000).
