Dave Meltzer thinks UFC should hide hot new signee Jake Shields like they're embarrassed by him

by David Bixenspan on Jul 20, 2010 3:27 PM EDT

Jake Shields works out with Gilbert Melendez (Getty Images)

Well, this is a new one.

Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter/F4WOnline and Yahoo Sports posted an...interesting take on how UFC should handle Jake Shields at his subscribers-only message board:

They'd better match him with a good stand-up fighter with no takedown defense or submission defense. At least then you know the match will be over quickly. If not, there is a lesson already out there about putting him on live TV.

Honestly, the less they show of him the better. You showcase people to their strengths and hide their weaknesses. You look at that for every person and then expose them accordingly. Either a guy with no sub defense and takedown defense, or hide him on the undercards where nobody can see him except the local ticket buyers, preferably on a Vegas show where nobody shows up until late. Having people sleep through Jon Fitch fights does less to make them want to see him against GSP again. However, if they never saw those fights, and marketed a 15 fight winning streak and had people talk him up, they wouldn't know enough to not want to see him.

they should talk about his win streak, have other fighters talk about him, never air him on television (unless they sign Melvin Manhoef) and show him training. The thing is, GSP will get him over on promos but if people actually saw him fight, they won't believe GSP when he talks about what a threat he is.

Seriously? They sign the competition's new top star...and they should put him in prelims that nobody sees because he's boring? This is especially strange coming from someone who has been pushing forever that the hype makes the fight and that with the right hype, it doesn't matter how good the fight will be. He went nuts over the De La Hoya-Mayweather 24/7 specials that he pointed out never promised a good or exciting fight. Hell, Lyoto Machida had a rep of being a boring nightmare, and his win streak forced UFC into giving him a title shot. He turned into a good draw thanks in part to a great hype job about the mysteries of Machida Karate.

What's different here? Shields is coming off a big win streak outside of UFC. He left Strikeforce as Middleweight Champion. His last fight was on CBS, where he defeated a former upper-level UFC star in Dan Henderson. UFC can hype him easily. Nobody expected Lesnar-Mir II to be a fight of the year candidate, and it's by far the most successful non-boxing PPV event of all time. I can go on and on. It seems like Dave is stuck in his "MMA and pro wrestling are exactly the same" mindset and is treating Shields like a poor worker who needs to be protected so he's not stinking up the joint.

Zach Arnold at FightOpinion seems to agree:

This is a real sport. As much as I’m sure ABC or other networks didn’t want to air New Jersey Devil NHL games when they were the masters of the ‘neutral zone trap,’ they aired the games because, hey, it’s a sport.

As does Kid Nate at Bloody Elbow:

I have to strongly disagree with Meltzer here as well. Shields has been in some not so great fights. But he's also been in plenty of good ones. Personally, I loved the Mayhem vs Shields match as a great grappling battle. It was just wildly inappropriate for prime time on CBS. On a UFC PPV, I think the fans could appreciate the skill and drama of two top grapplers battling, plus elbows are legal in the UFC and that will make Shields' game much more violent and entertaining.

But frankly, Shields is good for the UFC because they desperately need new challengers for welterweight champ Georges St Pierre. He's about to lap their welterweight division and Shields' potent mix of wrestling and submission skills will force GSP to beat him up on the feet or risk losing his title.

But hey, what do you expect from the guy who was consulted on working the finish of a major MMA fight (Takada vs Coleman) and treated the revelation of his involvement several years later like it was nothing? Pro wrestling and MMA are EXACTLY THE SAME!

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Out of all the works to be associated with too

The Takada/Coleman finish would have seemed somewhat implausible in RINGS. One of the all-time funniest announcing calls as well—"Oh, no no…what the hell? He’s giving him… no. Oh no. What?"

by capital L on Jul 20, 2010 7:59 PM EDT reply actions