UFC President, Dana White, is at it again.

While doing press to promote this Saturday’s WEC: Aldo vs. Faber event, White spread the word that he essentially guarantees that Strikeforce Middleweight Champion, Jake Shields, will leave his current organization and sign with the UFC.

Although Shields is still technically signed with Strikeforce, White is confident that he will secure the fighter soon. Citing a general lack of respect, White believes that Shields is simply biding time before he makes the transition.

“Jake Shields is definitely going to leave Strikeforce, and he’s definitely coming to the UFC. First of all, they put all of their eggs in the Dan Henderson basket. They went out and acquired him and thought he was worth a lot more money than we were willing to pay him. They went out and paid him more money than they can afford to. They never respected Jake Shields, who is their champion. They didn’t even have him in their commercials for the fight. Then the fight happens and Jake Shields wins. They were like, ‘Oh my God. He won. What do we do?’ I think they sent (Jason “Mayhem” Miller) in there to challenge him, so that if Jake leaves, it looks like he doesn’t want to fight Miller. That‘s not the way you do it. You let the winner speak, then you ask him at the end about whether he‘s willing to fight Miller. But that’s them. They’re a Podunk, unknown, small-time organization. There shouldn‘t have been that many guys in the cage in the first place!”

MMA fans have heard this kind of talk from White before. In the past, he has made assurances that he would sign the likes of Fedor Emelianenko and Gegard Mousasi, only to see both fighters go to Strikeforce.

Will it come to fruition this time? Assuming it does, Shields will have a plethora of challenges ahead of him. Depending on which division, welterweight or middleweight, he wants to focus on, Shields will have fighters such as Jon Fitch, Georges St. Pierre, Nate Marquardt and Anderson Silva amongst others to challenge him.

Should the UFC put Shields in an instant title fight or a warm up match first? With rumors that St. Pierre will be a coach on an upcoming season of The Ultimate Fighter, why not have Shields be on the opposing team? Casual fans will get to know him better and the UFC will have a future title fight with a strong backstory already established.

(source: All Headline News)