Jake Shields moving to Middleweight for next fight

Jake Shields’ time at Welterweight has come to an end. According to Tuesday night’s edition of Fuel TV’s UFC Tonight, Shields will move to the 185 pound division for his next fight.

Shields has four fights at Welterweight in the UFC and he has put together a record of 2-2.   It should be noted that Shields will be making the move up in weight after winning his last fight, a unanimous decision victory over Yoshihiro Akiyama, a fighter that had dropped from Middleweight to Welterweight for that bout.

As a middleweight Jake Shields captured the Strikeforce title by defeating Jason “Mayhem” Miller in November 2009. Shields would defend the title once, beating Dan Henderson by unanimous decision.

Shields would later vacate the title to make the move to the UFC. In his first bout in the UFC he defeated Martin Kampmann by split decision, earning a shot at UFC Welterweight Champion Georges St-Pierre. St-Pierre would take the unanimous decision win over Shields at UFC 129.

Shields hopes to compete at Middleweight in August.

Further Reading: Jake Shields: Nick Diaz has calmed down, he’s going to fight again

Photo: Jake Shields, left,  spares at a open media workout session to promote a Strikeforce MMA card at the Legends gym on March 17, 2010 in Hollywood, California. Francis Specker