Ex-Teammate shares insight on humility of UFC star Khabib Nurmagomedov: ‘He would be the guy mopping the mats’

Jake Shields shares insight on Khabib Nurmagomedov humility he would be mopping mats after UFC title winFormer Strikeforce middleweight champion Jake Shields shares insight into the humility of Khabib Nurmagomedov.  Nurmagomedov can boast of sporting…

Jake Shields shares insight on Khabib Nurmagomedov humility he would be mopping mats after UFC title win

Former Strikeforce middleweight champion Jake Shields shares insight into the humility of Khabib Nurmagomedov

Nurmagomedov can boast of sporting success, celebrity status and a fairly sizeable bank balance, however, the former UFC lightweight champion remains understated and humble. The 35-year-old grew a large and devoted following throughout his career and safely earned celebrity status during the end of his career, whether he liked it or not. 

However, nothing seemed to go to Nurmagomedov’s head and remained a well-respected and pivotal part of training cores both in California and in Dagestan. Shields, who trained alongside Nurmagomedov at the American Kickboxing Academy, shared that the MMA superstar would stay behind to clean the mats after practice. 

“When I would train with Khabib Nurmagomedov in San Jose he would often be the guy mopping the mats (this is usually down to my rookies) This was right before he won the title — but I’m pretty sure I also saw him moping in (Las) Vegas after he was already a champion. This sets a great example to his team that he’s not above them”, Shields wrote on Twitter

Many who know and have trained with Nurmagomedov have nothing but good things to say about him. Often the hardest worker in the room, Nurmagomedov earned the respect of many, including his former coach and head of AKA, Javier Mendes. 

When asked if money had changed Nurmagomedov, Mendes said, it did, but in the best way.

“Yes, he did change. He did change 100%. He became more generous… He became more generous, and a bit more kind to people. He was always kind but he became better with people. With more money, he became better.”

Khabib Nurmagomedov turned down $40 million to make UFC return

While the UFC has tried to tempt Nurmagomedov back on many occasions, he remains steadfast in his retirement. 

What is your favourite moment from Khabib Nurmagomedov’s career? 

Exclusive: Mike Jackson details UFC PI altercation with Jake Shields ahead of his fight with legend Pat Miletich

Mike JacksonMike Jackson shared his side of the incident between him and former Strikeforce middleweight champion Jake Shields at the UFC Performance Institute last year. Jackson, who fight fans likely remember as the man who fought wrestling superstar CM Punk at UFC 225 in 2018, will make his return to the cage on October 14 for […]

Mike Jackson

Mike Jackson shared his side of the incident between him and former Strikeforce middleweight champion Jake Shields at the UFC Performance Institute last year.

Jackson, who fight fans likely remember as the man who fought wrestling superstar CM Punk at UFC 225 in 2018, will make his return to the cage on October 14 for a clash with MMA pioneer Pat Miletich. The pair will square off under the Caged Aggression MMA banner in Davenport, Iowa.

But first, Jackson sat down with Danny Podolsky in an exclusive LowKick MMA interview to share his side of an incident that occurred between himself and Shields at the UFC PI in December 2022 and how exactly their rivalry began.

“Jake Shields said some wild f*cking sh*t on Twitter. I questioned him like, ‘Yo, why are you saying’… If you go to his Twitter feed, he doesn’t even hide it,” Jackson said. “He’s openly and blatantly hosting white nationalists and his beliefs, whether it’s for engagement or not. So I questioned him about it and he’s like, ‘Yo, let’s fight.’ I’m not trying to fight you. I’m just trying to figure out why you’re talking the way you’re talking. ‘No, let’s fight.’ Alright, if you want to fight, come to Houston and put on some boxing gloves. I’m not fighting Jake Shields in MMA. That doesn’t make any sense.

“You wanna box, let’s box. ‘You’re a f*cking p*ssy, blah, blah, blah.’ Look, these are the terms. You want to fight me? These are the terms and he brushes that off.”

Jackson Says That He Tried to Leave Peacefully Before Shields Grabbed Him From Behind and Dragged Him to the Floor

After their altercation online, the two men just happened to be at the UFC PI in Las Vegas. It was there that Shields, backed up by a group of individuals, confronted Mike Jackson moments before things got physical.

“Fast forward to the PI, I just had to fight. I was recovering from surgery and trying to get a workout in,” Jackson continued. “I’m gonna say it was a coincidence. I don’t think he knew… I wasn’t posting that I was there. He comes up, he sees me, and he’s like, ‘Racist Mike Jackson!’ I’m like, cool. I’m gonna get back to my workout. You gonna come here and do what you have to do. I’m gonna do what I’m doing.

“Essentially, he prevents me from working out. He spits on me and again, I’m not… I got my gloves on. I’m not trying to fight this dude because if I still off on Jake in that moment… Again, I’m recovering from face surgery. If I still off on him, then it’s going to be a fight and he has every right to fight back if I hit him. So I don’t hit this dude, and then I start looking around and he has like six guys. He essentially has backup. I’m by myself. I know what street fights and gang attacks look like.

“I’m trying to avoid it. He kept egging it on. I’m not fighting you. I don’t know why you think I’m fighting you, particularly at the PI. There are cameras everywhere. So I’m finally trying to grab my stuff and he grabs me from behind and pulls me down. It was so slow I was like, ‘Wait, what’s happening here?’ He’s on top of me and I cover up because I gotta protect my face.”

It wasn’t until Jake Shields posted a video of the incident on social media that Jackson decided to press charges. After failing to show up for an arraignment in September, Shields was charged with misdemeanor battery, and a bench warrant was issued. Thus far, Shields has not been taken into custody nor has he turned himself in.

“Jake Shields is a nazi piece of sh*t and a coward,” Jackson added. “He’s an opportunist. He’s a try-hard. He’s only doing this because no one likes him and he needs attention in his life and that’s what all of this is about for him. He craves attention. He feels he’s out of the spotlight now and this is his way to stay relevant. By being a white nationalist on social media. But there are consequences for actions.”

Ex-UFC fighter Jake Shields charged with battery following December assault on Mike Jackson at UFC P.I.

Jake ShieldsFormer Strikeforce middleweight champion Jake Shields has been charged with misdemeanor battery following an alleged assault on Mike Jackson at the UFC Performance Institute in December. According to a report from MMA Fighting, Shields was charged with a single count of misdemeanor battery in connection with the incident. A summons was issued for the one-time UFC […]

Jake Shields

Former Strikeforce middleweight champion Jake Shields has been charged with misdemeanor battery following an alleged assault on Mike Jackson at the UFC Performance Institute in December.

According to a report from MMA Fighting, Shields was charged with a single count of misdemeanor battery in connection with the incident. A summons was issued for the one-time UFC title challenger on August 9, but he failed to appear at an arraignment on September 21. That same day, a bench warrant was issued for his arrest.

Shields has not been detained on the charge, nor has he publicly commented on it.

What began as an argument online over race-related issues came to a boiling point in December when both men were present inside the UFC P.I. in Las Vegas. Shields posted a video on X that appeared to show him on top of Jackson and reigning down punches while surrounded by a group of onlookers.

“Finally ran into the b*tch Mike Jackson,” Shields wrote. “He quickly discovered the difference between calling people Nazis in person vs on Twitter. This racist is lucky so many people were there to save his pathetic racist ass.”

During an interview with MMA Fighting to discuss his impending clash with UFC Hall of Famer Pat Miletich in Davenport, Iowa, Jackson had some unsavory words for Shields.

“He’s a piece of sh*t,” Jackson said. “Jake Shields, I know somebody is going to tell you about this. You better be on your best behavior, you f*cking coward. Because the man is looking [for you]. He has a warrant out for his arrest because he’s a coward piece of sh*t. So he’s on the run essentially. He’s ducking and dodging the cops because they want to get him. The [district attorney] wants to get his ass real good. So that’s going to happen.”

Mike Jackson Says Jake Shields Backed Out of a Fight to Settle Their Differences

Jackson and Miletich were once friends with the MMA pioneer training Jackson ahead of his matchup with wrestling superstar CM Punk inside the Octagon. According to Jackson, their falling out came when Miletich attended the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. The two fighters will now settle their differences under the Caged Aggression MMA banner later this month.

Jackson attempted to set up a similar meeting between himself and Jake Shields but claimed that Shields ultimately bowed out of the proposed PRIDE-style scrap on pay-per-view.

“He’s pasting this narrative online that I’m scared of him and he whooped me,” Jackson said. “First of all, the dude attacked me from behind like the coward piece of sh*t that he is. Fine. He said he wanted to fight. I gave him terms to fight. We agreed to the terms of the fight, and then he jumped me from behind.

“He agreed to box me. Those are his words. OK, you agreed to box me, here are the terms. We do PRIDE rules, a 10-minute first round, and every round after that is five minutes. There is no round limit. We go until someone quits or someone gets knocked out, and it will be on a pay-per-view stream and we split the profits — 60 percent to the winner and 40 percent to the loser. He’s like ‘No, f*ck that, you’re a p*ssy, I want to fight you UFC 1, bare-knuckle rules.’ You’re a f*cking piece of sh*t.

“That’s fine, they’ve got a warrant out for your arrest, Jake Shields, you f*cking piece of shit coward Nazi. They’re coming for you boy – you better watch out.”

Ex-UFC fighter Jake Shields adamantly defends Hollywood star Russell Brand amid rape allegations

Jake ShieldsFormer Strikeforce middleweight champion Jake Shields came to the defense of comedian and social media star Russell Brand after the actor was accused of rape, sexual assault, and abuse based on the allegations from four women who knew him at the height of his fame. Brand rose to fame in the early 2000s as a […]

Jake Shields

Former Strikeforce middleweight champion Jake Shields came to the defense of comedian and social media star Russell Brand after the actor was accused of rape, sexual assault, and abuse based on the allegations from four women who knew him at the height of his fame.

Brand rose to fame in the early 2000s as a UK-based comedian before making the jump to Hollywood in 2008’s Forgetting Sarah Marshall. Brand followed that up with a sequel, Get Him to the Greek, and a remake of the 1981 Dudley Moore classic Arthur. In more recent years, Brand has morphed himself into a political commentator and social media influencer.

Brand has vehemently denied the allegations levied against him in a video posted online.

“Amidst this litany of astonishing, rather baroque attacks are some very serious allegations that I absolutely refute,” he said. “These allegations pertain to the time when I was working in the mainstream when I was in the newspapers all the time when I was in the movies, and, as I have written about extensively in my books, I was very, very promiscuous.”

“Now during that time of promiscuity the relationships I had were absolutely, always consensual,” he added. “I was always transparent about that then, almost too transparent, and I am being transparent about it now as well,” (h/t AP News).

Jake Shields Makes it His Mission to Defend Russell Brand

Jake Shields, who is well-known in the MMA community for delivering his opinion on virtually every subject under the sun, immediately came to Brand’s defense on X (formerly Twitter), writing a litany of posts that call into question the motivation of the actor’s accusers.

“Do you Believe Russell Brand is a Serial rapist or do you think he’s being set up by the Regime for speaking to much truth?” Shields questioned.

Shields was far from done, suggesting that there should be a statute of limitations on reporting someone of rape.

“Rape charges should have to be filed within 12 months both criminally and civilly,” Shields wrote in a follow-up post. “It’s becoming the norm to decide you were raped 13 years after especially if the guy is pushing different political views. This is absurd and needs to be stopped because it’s an embarrassment to real rape victims.”

Shields even went so far as to slut-shame the alleged victims. “If you are unsure if you got raped after 365 days you were not raped you are just a slut,” Shields quipped.

“Rape is one of the most disgusting egregious things a man can do. Falsely accusing a man of rape is one of the most disgusting egregious things a women can do. Recently there’s been so many false allegations that we have no idea who to believe. This hurts woman making it harder for them to come forwards and believed. The only solution is to start handing out long prison sentences to the false accusers,” he added on X.

The Association of Ringside Physicians will not support the inclusion of transgender athletes in combat sports

TransgenderThe Association of Ringside Physicians “does not currently support transgender athlete competition against cisgender athletes in combat sports.” That is according to a recent position paper released by the ARP on June 13. The report comes courtesy of Combat Sports Law, which was the first outlet to report on the ARP’s stance when it comes […]

Transgender

The Association of Ringside Physicians “does not currently support transgender athlete competition against cisgender athletes in combat sports.”

That is according to a recent position paper released by the ARP on June 13. The report comes courtesy of Combat Sports Law, which was the first outlet to report on the ARP’s stance when it comes to transgender athletes in combat sports. The document itself states:

“The Association of Ringside Physicians (ARP) is committed to the concept of fair competition. It advocates for two equally skilled and matched athletes to keep bouts fair, competitive, entertaining, and, most importantly, safe for all combatants.

“Numerous studies have proven that transgender women may have a competitive athletic advantage against otherwise matched cisgender women. Likewise, transgender men may have a competitive disadvantage against cisgender men.

“These differences—both anatomic and physiologic–persist despite normalization of sex hormone levels and create disparities in competitive abilities that are not compatible with the spirit of fair competition. More importantly, allowing transgender athletes to compete against cisgender athletes in combat sports, which already involve significant risk of serious injury, unnecessarily raises the risk of injury due to these differences.

“Hence, the ARP does not currently support transgender athlete competition against cisgender athletes in combat sports” (h/t Bloody Elbow).

Looking Back at Joe Rogan’s Comments About Transgender Fighter Fallon Fox

Transgender athletes have come under fire in recent years, but it’s a subject that has been heavily debated for quite some time. Much of it dates back to 2012 when Fallon Fox, a trans woman, made her professional mixed martial arts debut under the King of the Cage banner.

Fox continued to find fights for herself throughout 2013 and 2014, but as she continued to rack up wins, some fairly prominent figures in the sport decided to speak out, including long-time UFC commentator Joe Rogan.

“She calls herself a woman but… I tend to disagree,” Rogan said on his podcast in 2013. “She used to be a man but now she has had, she’s a transgender which is (the) official term that means you’ve gone through it, right? And she wants to be able to fight women in MMA. I say no f*cking way. I say if you had a d*ck at one point in time, you also have all the bone structure that comes with having a d*ck. You have bigger hands, you have bigger shoulder joints. You’re a f*cking man. That’s a man, OK? I don’t care if you don’t have a d*ck anymore.”

“She’s not really a she,” Rogan added. “She’s a transgender, post-op person.”

Alana McLaughlin is the Latest Trans Fighter to Come Under Fire

Much of the conversation around trans athletes, specifically in MMA, died down in 2015 after Fallon Fox retired from the sport with a 5-1 record. However, the conversation was once again at the forefront following the Combate Global debut of trans fighter Alana McLaughlin in 2021. Lady Feral’ scored a second-round rear-naked choke over her opponent, Celine Provost, and immediately sparked a debate regarding the fairness of trans women competing against cisgender women in MMA.

Since her one appearance in the cage, McLaughlin has failed to secure a second fight and believes the overwhelming amount of backlash is a direct result.

“I think I really had high hopes when I got that first pro fight,” McLaughlin told Bloody Elbow. “And I thought there was going to be more to it. But I also think that the executives at Combate (Global) sort of underestimated the vitriol that was going to be coming my way.”

“So yeah, I don’t know, I guess I started getting the whole pie in the sky, thinking I was going to have a shot at something,” she said. “And now that seems further away. And like we pointed out, I’m 40. I wanted, really, my goal was just to have more fights than Fallon Fox did. But at this point, even that’s looking unlikely. I don’t know. It’s tough right now.”

McLaughlin has also found herself in the news quite a bit lately, though it’s far from her own doing. Ex-UFC standout Jake Shields has specifically taken aim at McLaughlin, transgendered individuals, and their allies in a series of increasingly hostile threats. Shields even went so far as to suggest that anyone who aids in the transition of a child should be subject to public execution.

Trans athletes are likely to be a hot-button issue for the foreseeable future, but spewing hate and physical threats will only serve to create further division and animosity. We can’t pretend to know the answer, but Jake Shields certainly doesn’t have it.

UFC alum Jake Shields’ controversial challenge accepted by amateur wrestler and trans man Mack Beggs

Jake ShieldsJake Shields’ challenge to take on ten trans men back-to-back has been answered. Shields, a former Strikeforce middleweight champion who fizzled out of the sport in 2018 following a run under the PFL banner, has kept his name in the headlines thanks to his controversial and downright disgusting views toward the transgender community. Despite being […]

Jake Shields

Jake Shields’ challenge to take on ten trans men back-to-back has been answered.

Shields, a former Strikeforce middleweight champion who fizzled out of the sport in 2018 following a run under the PFL banner, has kept his name in the headlines thanks to his controversial and downright disgusting views toward the transgender community. Despite being repeatedly suspended from social media platforms like Twitter for his transphobic takes, the lay-and-pray specialist routinely finds his way back online to offer his outlandish takes.

Recently, Shields made a lot of enemies, and a shocking amount of allies, for his belief that those who aid in the transition of children should be subject to public execution.

Putting his money where his mouth is, Jake Shields offered up a challenge to the community he seems to loathe so much. He offered to fight ten of the toughest trans men on the same night, leading one to suspect that Shields had just gotten done watching the 1992 film ‘Diggstown’ and had a lightbulb moment.

Since trans men are real men I would like to challenge the 10 toughest trans men in the world to a fight.” Taking things a step further, Shields agreed to fight them with “no training and no rest between each fight.”

Amateur Wrestler Mack Beggs Accepts Jake Shields’ Challenge

After some additional goading from Jake Shields, one individual stepped up to the plate. Mack Beggs, an amateur wrestler and transgender man, delivered a scathing response to the California native. Beggs accepted Shields’ challenge but suggested that they keep it one-on-one.

‘We just going to make this an official call out, but Jake Shields I will take you up on your offer,’ he said. But the offer isn’t going to be 10 versus one and 10 trans men you’re going to be fighting for the rest of the night,” Beggs said.

“You’re going to do a one-on-one type match. You’re going to do it right,” Beggs continued. “If you’re going to call yourself a fighter do it f*cking right. Like, that’s just f***ing disrespectful. It’s disrespectful to the sport of MMA for you to just be like ‘oh yeah let me just call out 10 trans men and I’ll f*cking whoop them” (h/t Outkick.com)

Beggs went on to suggest that the constant attention that his community gets from Jake Shields and his equally pathetic allies could be due to a secret fetish masked as disdain.

“It’s the fact that y’all are so fixated and hyper-fixated and have some f*cking fetish with trans women that you even forget that we f*cking out here and we going to f*ck you up.

“I’m specifically going to f*ck you up Jake Shields,” Beggs concluded.

Beggs is a former high school wrestler from Euless, Texas. In 2017, Beggs made headlines after he won the Texas girls’ 110-pound championship despite identifying as a male. However, it was not Beggs’ choice to compete in the girls’ division. Texas state legislation dictated that individuals were only allowed to compete in the division for the gender assigned at birth.