• UFC 129

Shields vows to be better than in his Henderson win

ESPN staff
April 20, 2011
Jake Shields ready for GSP

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Jake Shields dominated Dan Henderson for four rounds back in April 2010, but one year on he is promising to deliver an even better performance against Georges St-Pierre.

Shields defied the odds to defend his Strikeforce middleweight crown against Henderson in Nashville, surviving a horror first round that saw him dropped on three occasions to bounce back for victory. The Cesar Gracie jiu-jitsu fighter spent the majority of the next 20 minutes on top of Henderson, in what was comfortably the defining win of his career to date.

However, since that battle, Shields has dropped to his natural weight of 170lbs, instantly drawing critics for his lacklustre UFC debut victory over Martin Kampmann. Now he has to close the chasm in performance level that he will need to reach in order to defeat St-Pierre, but the welterweight challenger vows to be ready come UFC 129.

"I'm tired of trying to make reasons and stuff. I had a horrible night that night [against Kampmann]," Shields told Fight Week. "You get good nights and bad nights, that was the worst night I've had for six years.

"Fortunately on my worst night I was still able to get through Kampmann, I'm just glad it wasn't GSP. All it does it gives me extra motivation to not make the same mistakes, I know what they were, I'm fixing them and I won't have that same performance again.

"I'm ready to be better than I was against Henderson in my next fight."

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.
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