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UFC Fight Night 29: If Jake Shields Plays Demian Maia’s Game, He’ll Regret It

While few UFC welterweights can match the grappling prowess of Jake Shields, no 170-pounder has managed to contest the avant-garde ground fighting chops of the surging Demian Maia.
The fourth-ranked Maia has reeled off three straight impressive wins si…

While few UFC welterweights can match the grappling prowess of Jake Shields, no 170-pounder has managed to contest the avant-garde ground fighting chops of the surging Demian Maia.

The fourth-ranked Maia has reeled off three straight impressive wins since making the descent to 170, a fruitful decision he made following his loss to Chris Weidman in early 2012.

Along the way, the ADCC champ [2007] quickly disposed of Dong Hyun Kim before easily outgrappling former collegiate wrestlers Rick Story and Jon Fitch.

Despite the obvious risks, a confident and always game Shields plans on establishing his first UFC winning streak by beating Maia at his own game in their main-event bout at UFC Fight Night 29.

In an interview last week with Bleacher Report’s Duane Finley, Shields spoke openly about his game plan in his first main-event appearance since getting TKO’d by Jake Ellenberger roughly two years ago.

I think it’s a great stylistic fight. We are two of the best Jiu-Jitsu guys out there and I think we are both going to want to use those skills in this fight. I’m going to go out there and try to take him down and submit him, and I expect the same from him. I’m hoping for some great Jiu-Jitsu exchanges, but I’m going to be prepared in the stand-up game as well. I’m ready for all-out war.

It may prove unpopular among fans, but if Shields plans on leaving Brazil victorious, the 34-year-old must utilize his well-rounded grappling arsenal to keep his showdown with Maia standing.

Shields proved in his title bout with Georges St-Pierre at UFC 129 that he can hold his own in the kickboxing department. In fact, he landed 78 significant strikes to St-Pierre’s 85 and surprisingly outstruck the longtime champ, 96-92.

St-Pierre, however, essentially earned a unanimous decision in the bout on the strength of his superior wrestling, scoring on two of three takedown attempts and stuffing each of Shields’ six shots.

And although he gave up takedowns against Ed Herman, Yoshihiro Akiyama and Jason Miller, Shields, a former collegiate wrestler, explained why he’s confident against top-flight grapplers like Maia.

I’m not going to say what happened to Fitch can’t happen with me because a guy at Maia’s level can make anything happen. I think Fitch is a great opponent and a good grappler so watching Maia dominate him like that was very impressive. But it’s something I’m very prepared for. I think my Jiu-Jitsu is a lot better than Fitch’s and I mix my wrestling with it. Those are the skills I bring to this fight and I’m super-excited because Maia’s last three fights at 170, he looked amazing in all of them. That makes this fight that much more exciting for me.

With submission wins over Robbie Lawler, Mike Pyle and Nick Thompson, Shields, the creator of American Jiu-Jitsu [a blend of wrestling and Brazilian jiu-jitsu] obviously possesses a venomous ground game.

In wins over Dan Henderson and Martin Kampmann, Shields also flashed his gift for blending strikes with shots, scoring four takedowns apiece in back-to-back wins.

And akin to Maia, Shields showed extraordinary top control in workmanlike wins over “Hendo” and “The Hitman.”

But if he obliges Maia by engaging in a grapplefest, Shields, an ADCC bronze medalist [2005], could potentially suffer the first submission setback of his 15-year career.

Shields certainly owns one of the best grappling repertoires in the UFC, and the Cesar Gracie standout knows how to employ it. Truth be told, though, Maia is both an artist and a magician on the mat, and at this point, no one in the UFC can play his game better.

All stats gathered via Fightmetric.com

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Rousimar Palhares Almost Looks Like a Normal Human Being Now [PHOTO]

(Photo via Globo/Reddit)

Tomorrow night, former middleweight Rousimar Palhares makes his 170-pound debut against Mike Pierce on the main card of UFC Fight Night 29, following a nine-month suspension for elevated testosterone. Palhares’s failed drug test surprised nobody — we’re talking about a dude who sported one of the most unrealistic builds in UFC history, whose biceps strained the boundaries of believability. Now preparing for his first fight at welterweight, we’ve finally gotten a glimpse at what Palhares looks like without power pills, and it’s…weird.

He looks unnaturally bare, like a hairless cat. He looks like he lost his traps in a car accident. He looks like his head grew two sizes. He looks like he skipped leg day. He looks kind of sad. He looks like a normal human being, and I’m not prepared for it. First a skinny Roy Nelson, and now this? It’s too much. I’m going to go lie down for a while.

(Photo via Globo/Reddit)

Ben vs. Seth: UFC Fight Night 29 Edition

You know how broken-down, piece-of-shit houses are often advertised as “handyman’s specials“? Well, tomorrow’s UFC Fight Night 29 event in Barueri is a “grappler’s wet dream,” headlined by two welterweights known for bringing it to the mat and keeping it there for AS LONG AS IT TAKES!!! (Just trying to stay positive here, guys.) Non-Baruerians can watch the action on FOX Sports 1, and we’ll be livebogging the main card starting at 7 p.m. ET / 4 p.m. PT.

To keep you current on all the important themes surrounding “Maia vs. Shields,” it’s time for CagePotato founding editor Ben Goldstein and staff writer Seth Falvo to engage in some spirited debate. So how will the main event play out? What’s the best way to make money off the fights? Which fighter on the card is talented enough to be a future Bellator tournament semi-finalist? And which funny GIF will show up at the end of this post? Read on, and please toss your own opinions in the comments section.

Will Demian Maia‘s main event fight against Jake Shields go any differently than his last win against Jon Fitch? And are you already sold on Maia as a future welterweight title contender?

BG: Not all boring grapplers are the same. There can be subtle differences between boring grapplers. Jon Fitch is a guy whose single-minded focus is to take you down and lay on you until the fight ends. Jake Shields will take you down and try to submit you first, and if that’s not working out, then he’ll lay on you until the fight ends.

Here’s another difference — Fitch seems to lose a couple belt-ranks when his opponent manages to scramble onto his back. (Maia and BJ Penn were both able to hang out in back control for long stretches against Fitch, who defended himself well against rear-naked chokes, but was otherwise stuck in position.) Shields tends to be a little more active on the mat than Fitch both offensively and defensively, and unlike Fitch, Jake Shields has never been submitted in his entire career.

I see two possible outcomes here: 1) Maia and Shields recognize each other’s grappling abilities, and proceed to put on the sloppiest, stupidest kickboxing match in recent UFC history. 2) Shields tries to play jiu-jitsu with Maia, and it doesn’t work out too well for him. Either way, I’ve got the Brazilian by decision. Now would that firmly establish Maia as a title threat? Maybe not. Keep in mind that all of Maia’s opponents during his UFC welterweight run have been wrestlers. Give him the winner of UFC 167’s Robbie Lawler vs. Rory MacDonald bout after this one, and we’ll see how he handles himself in the deep end of the pool, against guys with the power to turn him upside-down.

SF: Glad to see I’m not the only person around here who has drank more than enough of the Demian Maia Kool-Aid; I’m already sold on him as a legitimate contender. But are we seriously writing off Jake Shields this easily?

I’m not about to write that Jake Shields has great striking or anything, but for a one-dimensional grappler, his Muay Thai is better than it has any business being. Yeah, I know — that’s like writing that The Wrestling Boot Band weren’t that terrible or that Pepsi Jazz was sort-of drinkable — but I’m not ready to say the same thing about Maia. Point being, if this fight stays on the feet, I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised to see Jake Shields walk away victorious. And, who knows, Jake may even violate a CagePotato Ban and win by bringing back the old Jake Shields tomorrow night. Anything can happen in a cage fight, bro.

Looking at the gambling odds for this event, what’s the single smartest wager you could make?

Will Demian Maia‘s main event fight against Jake Shields go any differently than his last win against Jon Fitch? And are you already sold on Maia as a future welterweight title contender?

Looking at the gambling odds for this event, what’s the single smartest wager you could make?

BG: Smartest wager? Buddy, you’re talking to the wrong guy. I’m a sucker for ridiculous underdogs, and my lifetime success rate is currently hovering right above 0%. So before we get into “smart” bets, let me just point out that Dong Hyun Kim is a +220 underdog against Erick Silva, who is a strong favorite here because he’s handsome, I guess? Seriously, DHK wrestle-fuck all day.

Now, if you’re looking for a bet that’s fiscally sound but feels risky enough to give you that adrenaline rush of actual, degenerate gambling, I like to go with the old two-fight parlay: Pick two favorites who you feel comfortable with, and stack ‘em together. Give me TJ Dillashaw from the currently-unstoppable Team Alpha Male crew, who’s sitting at -225 against Raphael Assuncao, and the aforementioned Demian Maia, who’s listed around -270. A $10 parlay bet at BetUS returns $9.23 in profit if they both win — damn-near even money for a damn-near sure thing.

SF: What lovely, practical advice you’ve just given out, Ben. Now, if you’re done being intelligent and placing sensible bets, your majesty, I have a mortgage payment that I’d like to throw away on grown men punching each other.

Jake Shields is just underrated enough to be an attractive option at +210, so I’ll gladly be a total contrarian asshole and include him in my parlay, thank you very much. The other guy in my parlay? Allan freakin’ Patrick. I’ve never seen him fight before, but he’s undefeated, he’s Brazilian, and his opponent can best be described as “Some Guy, whatever, fuck you.” All of this makes him the perfect, yet incredibly rare combination of “totally safe bet” and “complete shot in the dark.” The $32.92 that my ten bucks would make off of this parlay certainly helps his case, too. Hell, something tells me that I’d have a crippling gambling addiction if I didn’t place my next few paychecks on this…

Which fighter is most likely to show up in Bellator after this event?

SF: My gut instinct is to take the easy route, pick Thiago Silva, and throw in a semi-related GIF at some point, as is tradition. I’m sure if I spent some time researching statistics or finding out if Facebook preliminaries are still a thing, I’d have a different opinion. But I didn’t earn the reputation of “talentless hack” by doing that stuff, and if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, so Thiago Silva it is

Silva is dangerously deep into Fitch/Okami territory. He’s talented enough to be a perennial “Top 10″ guy, but not enough to actually hold a belt — and he comes with a much heftier price tag than the other gatekeepers on the roster. Sure, his fan-friendly style would be an incentive to keep him around, if it weren’t for how disturbingly often the guy shoots himself in the foot (figuratively speaking [for now]). Another loss/failed drug test for Thiago Silva, and he may very well find himself under the bright lights of Viacom MMA.

BG: You’re assuming that Thiago Silva will lose to Matt Hamill, a guy with very little to offer in the year 2013, who unwisely came out of a very wise retirement and who hasn’t looked impressive since he KO’d Mark Munoz four and a half years ago. I say Silva wins that fight, so screw you.

Let’s be real: Fabio Maldonado vs. Joey Beltran will decide the unofficial winner of the Season Nine Bellator Light-Heavyweight Tournament. It’s perfect. They’re both sluggers with losing records in the UFC. You’ve heard of them, but you don’t particularly care about them. One of them is a disgraced steroid cheat. And Bellator’s light-heavyweight division is even shallower than the rest of their shallow divisions, so they could use the warm bodies.

Maldonado vs. Beltran is a classic matchup of a technical boxer vs. a let-me-bang-bro brawler, and I see “The Mexicutioner” losing a unanimous decision after being picked apart over three rounds. He will be fired by the UFC on Monday morning, and signed by Bellator on Wednesday. He will eventually be TKO’d by Attila Vegh, then test positive for steroids again and retire for three months before showing up in XARM. Hillary Clinton wins the 2016 presidential election, but it’s a close one. There’s a recount, and hostilities between the two major U.S. political parties grow even deeper and more overt. A civil war breaks out. The nuclear silos in Iowa self-destruct. Eventually, what’s left of the United States falls under the control of a shadowy dictator known only as “The Beekeeper.” Dana White dies peacefully in his sleep at the age of 112.

Thiago Silva vs. Matt Hamill…is this matchup depressing to anybody else, or is it just me?

SF: That GIF I owe you guys? Yeah, I figured I’d sit on it until I was asked a question that made me feel completely empty inside. So, you know…

BG: Basically, we’ve got a stoner and a deaf retiree trying to beat the shit out of each other in front of a bunch of unwashed foreigners. I know it sounds like the premise of a new Seth MacFarlane sitcom, but this is an actual UFC main card fight. Play us off, Morgan…

The Eye Poke: The Oldest Trick in the Book

Wednesday night, Jake Shields will meet fellow grappler Demian Maia in the main event of UFC Fight Night 29. Shields, while an excellent ground fighter, is still struggling to live down his embarrassing performance against Georges St. Pierre.
The fight…

The fight was a fairly predictable one as St. Pierre lit Shields up with his jab while Shields utterly failed to take the champion down or pull guard. The main surprise of the fight—aside from St. Pierre revealing that he had actually forgotten how to throw his right hand with any heat on it—was that Shields was able and worryingly willing to find the mark with several eye gouges.

The eyes are a sensitive subject in combat sports. One need only look to the MMA news of this week to see how concerning eye injuries can be in a fighter’s career. Michael Bisping has been facing ongoing issues with his eyes which have left many speculating about his future.

I speak constantly about the benefits of getting to angles against an opponent, and of blind angles such as the one which the front kick to the jaw or the uppercut can come up through. Once you have swollen an opponent’s eyes, however, everything comes from a blind angle.

A fighter will aim his jab for the eyes to swell them and blind the opponent. One need only think of Muhammad Ali to remember his back-handed jab, with his hand often open inside his glove, flicking and slapping away at his opponent’s features.

In Ali’s third bout with Joe Frazier, The Thrilla in Manilla, the two men beat the stuffing out of each other for 14 rounds before Frazier’s corner, against Smokin‘ Joe’s will, called the fight off.

Frazier had injured his left eye earlier in his career and had greatly reduced vision for many of his fights, but by the time the Thrilla in Manilla came around, he was almost entirely blind in that eye. The scar tissue in his left eye had developed into a cataract. Ali’s continued flicking jabs and combinations across Frazier’s face closed up his good eye, and by the mid-point of the bout, Frazier was essentially fighting blind.

The trouble that Frazier gave Ali in their final and greatest bout really drives home the importance of eyesight to a fighter, even an up close infighter like Frazier. If Frazier had even the limited vision which he usually carried into fights, there is good reason to believe that he wouldn’t have taken such a beating in Round 14.

Targeting the eyes with legal strikes is not uncommon in MMA or kickboxing, either.

Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic made something of a specialty of breaking his opponents’ orbital bones.

If you can remember back to BJ Penn versus Joe Stevenson, Penn was able to land a hard elbow straight into the eye of Stevenson on the ground which really turned Joe Daddy’s night from a bad start into an agonizing beat down.

Those examples, however, were all legal blows. What we are seeing nowadays is a growing number of MMA fighters who are quite willing to poke an opponent’s eye in order to take advantage of the moment or get some breathing space.

Thumbing of the eye in boxing has always been seen as a dirty tactic. It is against the rules because it is primarily career threatening, not to mention being disproportionately effective. In the modern era, gloves are made with the thumb attached to the rest of the glove so that it can’t be splayed out and dragged across an opponent’s eye.

The dangers of the eye gouge in the clinch are obvious. A fighter’s hand can be well hidden from the referee and even the crowd by his back. What is more concerning is the eye gouge as an opponent comes in. This is the kind which we are seeing more and more of in MMA.

A fighter who comes in with a good jab can be countered with a good dipping jab. But that requires good timing. It is an explosive movement and one must measure exactly when to launch the counter and to perform the slip so as not to move too soon or too late.

Gouging an opponent as he comes in takes nowhere near that kind of skill. One can get hit in the face clean and still, with one’s hand open, make a good go of raking the thumb or fingers across the attacker’s eyeball.

Here is a great example as the late, great Ken Norton has a match turned around on him through an eye gouge. As he snaps Scott Ledeux’s head back with a stiff jab, Ledoux is able to run his thumb across Norton’s eye and blind the better boxer.

This was the story of Jake Shields versus Georges St. Pierre. St. Pierre was getting in clean and hard with jabs, so Shields gouged him as he came in.

Now it is hard to blame Jake Shields for this. It was a classless move, but it could equally be called a savvy one. Some of the greatest fighters of all time have been incredible technicians, but horrendous sportsmen. Sandy Saddler, one of the greatest featherweight boxers of all time, could beat most men from pillar to post with pure, clean skill, but opted to rough them up with elbows and butts anyway.

To state the obvious, a fighter is in a fight. Not all fighters can simply say “it’s only a sport” when they are losing. It is the job of the referee to be vigilant and stop such behavior with breaks of the action whenever a gouge is seen and issue an immediate warning or point deduction.

Josh Koscheck gets a lot of criticism for the fact that his fighting style seems to be based entirely around leaving his hand out, hoping to catch the opponent on his finger as they move in, then cracking them with his formidable right hand when they are smarting from the gouge. Koscheck‘s pokes are clearly intentional because he will hold his hand closed and open it as the opponent comes in.

But can you blame him? He knows he can get away with it. Against Mike Pierce and Johnny Hendricks, Koscheck went about his usual tactics and, while he was warned against Pierce, nothing ever came of it.

It is not just bad fighters or poor sportsmen doing this, though. Some gouges genuinely seem to stem from open-handed guards and extending the arms in reaction to an opponent coming in.

Just the other week, Jon Jones succeeded in breaking the action in a round which he was losing by allowing Alexander Gustafsson to run onto his extended fingers. Chuck Liddell was mockingly called “The Eyesman” after thumbing Vernon White, Tito Ortiz and Randy Couture within four fights.

Eye gouges will be a constant feature of this sport. Even with a redesign of the gloves to one which encourages the hand to close, it will always be necessary to allow the glove to be opened for gripping and grappling. Boxing has seen a reduction in thumbing of the eyes now that the gloves prevent the thumb from being opened, but such forced closing of the fist can not be achieved in MMA competition.

It is the job of referees to actually penalize eye gouges. However, this can hardly be done fairly without the use of video to review incidents and allow the referee to deem whether a gouge was intentional or not. Of course, with an actual crackdown on eye pokes, video review would also be necessary to stamp out the inevitable faking that would come about if referees were more liberal with point deductions.

I hope, as do most others, that eye gouging will fall out of fashion. But it’s been around for centuries and it doesn’t seem to have lost any of it’s effectiveness.

Pick up Jack’s eBooks Advanced Striking and Elementary Striking from his blog, Fights Gone By.

Jack can also be found on Facebook and Twitter.

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UFC Fight Night 29: Maia vs. Shields Live Streaming Weigh-in Video

Demian Maia has quickly become a contender in the welterweight division. At UFC Fight Night 29, the Brazilian will look to take one step closer to his second UFC title shot by beating Jake Shields in his home country.
Shields has been on a bumpy road s…

Shields has been on a bumpy road since coming up short against 170-pound champion Georges St-Pierre. However, Shields is now headed back in the right direction following a knockout loss to Jake Ellenberger and a failed drug test at UFC 150.

In addition to the welterweight main event, UFC Fight Night 29 will feature a second important contest at 170 pounds. Considered a future title threat by many, Erick Silva will attempt to please his home crowd on Wednesday with a victory over fellow fringe contender Dong Hyun Kim.

Weigh-ins for UFC Fight Night 29 will be held on Tuesday at 3 p.m. ET. At that time, live streaming video will be available on the above player.

Below is the entire fight card for UFC Fight Night 29, which will be hosted by Barueri, Brazil on Wednesday.

UFC Fight Night 29 Main Card (Fox Sports 1 at 7 p.m. ET)

Demian Maia vs. Jake Shields
Erick Silva vs. Dong Hyun Kim
Thiago Silva vs. Matt Hamill
Fabio Maldonado vs. Joey Beltran
Rousimar Palhares vs. Mike Pierce
Raphael Assuncao vs. TJ Dillashaw

UFC 165 Fox Sports 1 Prelims (Fox Sports 1 at 5 p.m. ET)

Ildemar Alcantara vs. Igor Araujo
Yan Cabral vs. David Mitchell
Iliarde Santos vs. Chris Cariaso
Alan Patrick vs. Garett Whiteley

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UFC Fight Night 29: Predicting the Fight Night Bonuses

Although the consensus of the fans is that they are not excited, UFC Fight Night 29 has the potential for some great fights. When you have a bunch of up-and-coming guys competing for future main card slots, they tend to bring the fight.
The headliner b…

The headliner between Demian Maia and Jake Shields will go either two ways. Either Maia and Shields will have an ADCC-level grappling match to the excitement of fans, or they will put on a five-round hug fest that elicits a hurricane of boos.

Further than that, there are some fun matchups. In particular, TJ Dillashaw-Raphael Assuncao and Joey Beltran-Fabio Maldonado should bring some fun moments.

Here are the predictions for the fight-night bonus.

Submission of the Night: Yan Cabral

UFC newcomer and TUF Brazil 2 alum Yan Cabral is set to make his debut at this event, and if you haven’t seen him fight, you will be in for a treat. He brings an aggressive, skillful Brazilian jiu-jitsu style that has seen him tap out all 10 of his professional opponents.

His most recent win came over two years ago, but it was against a Japanese legend in Kazushi Sakuraba. Cabral is a Nova Uniao product whose favorite technique is the arm-triangle choke.

David Mitchell, his opponent, is a very good grappler himself. However, Cabral is vastly superior and will continue his submission streak in impressive fashion.

Also in the running: Rousimar Palhares, Demian Maia

Knockout of the Night: Thiago Silva

If the man who looks like a Brazilian psychopath can pass his drug test post fight, I think he will win the Knockout of the Night bonus. That scary-looking dude is Thiago Silva.

Silva has just one win in the last three years. However, that is only because he failed two drug tests after demolishing Brandon Vera and choking out Stanislav Nedkov.

If there is something Silva proved in his last fight, it’s that he is back to the form that made him such a scary competitor a few years ago. His knockout of Rafael Cavalcante was impressive as it was violent.

Matt Hamill is not the fighter he used to be and he just takes way too much damage on the feet to survive with a home run hitter like Silva. That is what will make the knockout so spectacular.

Also in the running: TJ Dillashaw, Mike Pierce

Fight of the Night: Fabio Maldonado vs. Joey Beltran

When Joe Silva was making this light heavyweight matchup, do you think he was salivating at the pure violence this contest would produce? Both Fabio Maldonado and Joey Beltran are never in a dull fight, so putting them together will be like combining lit matches and a tub of gasoline.

In short, it will mean fireworks. This fight cannot possibly be bad unless the UFC changes the rules last minute and disallows striking.

That obviously won’t happen and I am obviously kidding, but Maldonado’s boxing in combination with Beltran’s willingness to brawl mean these two will throw haymakers for 15 minutes.

Whoever wins, we will all win for having witnessed. Whoever loses won’t lose their job purely based on the performance they give us.

Also in the running: Thiago Silva-Matt Hamill, TJ Dillashaw-Raphael Assuncao, Iliarde Santos-Chris Cariaso

Follow me on Twitter for MMA news and other random thoughts (@RileyKontekMMA). Or don’t that’s cool too.

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