Jake Shields has remained private about what substance he tested positive for three years ago. Until Monday.
Shields admitted to using diuretics to help him cut weight before fighting Ed Herman at UFC 150 in August 2012 during a Nevada Athletic Commission (NAC) hearing. Shields was attempting to get licensed for his main-event bout with Brian Foster at World Series of Fighting 17 on Saturday in Las Vegas. Any fighter who is 35 years old or older must appear before the commission to have their license renewed.
The NAC gave Shields a conditional license to compete pending the receipt of his medical records, which had not come in as of Monday.
Shields, the former UFC and Strikeforce star, was suspended six months after the Herman fight and the bout, a Shields victory, was overturned into a no-contest by the Colorado Office of Boxing. The state is not required to release the substance Shields tested positive for by law and Shields has not spoken about it until now.
The commission inquired about the banned substance and asked Shields how it could be assured he would not use any drugs in advance of this fight against Foster. Shields said he had not looked over the list of prohibited substances, but he would immediately.
Shields said he was given the diuretics in 2012 by someone he knew from fighting, but not a fellow fighter. He said it was someone he didn’t know very well and called it a “mistake.”
“I learn from my mistakes,” Shields said. “I’d like to think that, at least. I’m not one to go through what I went through before.”
Shields said he was not aware diuretics were banned in Colorado.
“I didn’t know it was banned, but it was my fault,” he said. “It was my responsibility.”
Shields was also asked about his 2010 suspension and fine for his part in the infamous in-cage brawl following a Strikeforce fight that also included Nick and Nate Diaz and Jason “Mayhem” Miller. He told the commission that nothing like that would happen again.
“I’m not a dirty fighter,” Shields said. “I was completely caught up in it.”