Jake Shields: An Unexpected Journey

About the only color in the sterile, white hospital room came from an unusual place. It emanated from the fighter sitting awake in his bed groping at the gauzy figure around him, more specifically, his eyes. A distorted, purplish hue had already taken shape around swollen, tear-filled, mini-mountains of stretched flesh that jutted up beyond his forehead. He was broken, and his mumbled words were depressing. What hurt Jake Shields more than anything that night was the feeling that something he loved, his passion, had robbed him. Everything he did right was defeated by an opponent who did everything wrong. This was his price, he thought, for the countless hours and sacrifice, lying in this hospital bed wondering if he would ever be able to clearly see his daughter or family again.The last time Shields was in the cage, he submitted to Rousimar Palhares at World Series of Fighting 22 on Aug. 1, 2015 in Las Vegas. It was a fight Shields had controlled until he became entangled in a Palhares kimura and tapped 2:02 into the third round. Grave controversy had arisen earlier, however, as Palhares had pressed his thumbs into Shields’ eyes. Referee Steve Mazzagatti warned the Brazilian and threatened a point deduction in the second round. In the closing seconds of the frame, Palhares again attacked the eyes. No point was taken. Worse yet, Palhares refused to release the kimura following the tapout, leading Shields to respond by punching him after the fight was over. Palhares’ actions were so egregious that incensed World Series of Fighting Vice President Ali Abdel-Aziz stripped him of the promotion’s welterweight championship and suspended him indefinitely. Abdel-Aziz went so far as to say Palhares “has mental problems and shouldn’t be allowed to fight until he fixes them.” The aftermath did not help Shields much. The former Strikeforce, Shooto and EliteXC champion hopes to put the incident behind him when he faces Jon Fitch for the vacant World Series of Fighting welterweight crown in the WSOF 34 co-main event on Dec. 31 at Madison Square Garden in New York. “I was hoping that they overturned the decision, and the ref should have been banned, as well, but I won’t forget what happened to me,” Shields said. “I couldn’t see. It was just me and [trainer] Tareq [Azim] there. I was supposed to go in there and win another title, and I have lost before. I can deal with it. This was just something where I was cheated out of the fight. “I had to think about fighting again,” he added. “I seriously thought about whether or not this is what I want to do for the rest of my life. When you get thumbed in the eye, it gets kind of scary when you can’t see. When you start thinking about losing your eyes, you do get scared. I started to think more about real things. I couldn’t see out of either eye, and I wanted to take some time off and see what I wanted to do next.” It was a cathartic moment for Shields, 37, who will carry a 31-8-1 record into his fight with Fitch on New Year’s Eve. Time off allowed him to rinse away the hard feelings and gradually put himself back together again. Shields will return on the heels of one of the longest layoffs of his career. Azim knew he was coming back, as did his pal, Beau Taylor; they both go way back with Shields. Azim has known Shields for a decade. He started as Shields’ training partner and became his trainer after being injured. It was Azim who tried to go after Palhares following WSOF 22. Standing by Shields’ side in the hospital room made Azim twist inside. Here he was watching his best friend despair over a situation that was not exactly his fault. “It was hard seeing Jake like that, and it was frustrating because it was a situation outside of Jake’s control,” Azim said. “I see how the guy works, and he is one of the reasons why mixed martial arts is where it is today. It was frustrating to see all of this end, because what happened could have blinded him. Everything Jake built could have been taken away from him. Being there in the hospital sucked. I saw him go through a lot of pain and injustice. It was definitely a sad scene. I didn’t want that hard conversation with him about the future. I couldn’t wait for the night to pass.” It did. Shields took a few weeks off in Indonesia and felt the sun on his face. Within a month, he was getting the itch to work out again. “It’s why I look up to Jake and he’s priority in my life, because he makes everyone better around him,” Azim said. “Jake never feels sorry for himself. He had that moment in the hospital. It’s something that can happen to anyone, especially with what happened to Jake. We have a motto here at Empower Gym that we don’t do normal people things. “Right now, Jake is in the best shape and best mental state he’s ever been in,” he added. “He didn’t shut himself down. This fight with Fitch is a great opportunity for him to fight someone who he should have fought who he hasn’t fought. Look at Jake’s resume. He has a hall-of-fame resume, and as a friend, Jake has nothing else to prove in this sport; but you can tell he still has some unfinished business in this sport. I knew Jake was going to move forward with this fight after a few jiu-jitsu tournaments.” When Shields asked Azim to spar during the first week of February, he knew something was in the works. “That’s when I said to myself, ‘I think we’re getting ready to fight again,’ and I could see his fight-fix face,” Azim said. “There’s this tunnel, zoned look when he gets ready to fight. Jake always has purpose why he does what he does.” Taylor and Shields once trained together with Chuck Liddell. He watched his friend’s fight against Palhares live, screaming at his television screen. From a distance, it was nauseating. “Jake loves to fight; he really doesn’t care about the money, because when he started, there was no money out there,” Taylor said. “The money was an added bonus. The business came afterwards. Jake’s entire life has been competition, so for Palhares to push Jake to the extreme about asking himself about his future, that says a lot. “We would talk about where to …

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