This Month’s MMA Birthdays: Jake Shields Turns 38

When Jake Shields retires from mixed martial arts, he will do so as one of the greatest welterweights of all-time. The former Strikeforce, Shooto and EliteXC champion celebrates his 38th birthday on Jan. 9. A two-time All-American wrestler at Cuesta College in San Luis Obispo, California, Shields made his professional MMA debut on Oct. 23, 1999 and never looked back. He went 11-4-1 across his first 16 appearances — the run included an upset of Hayato Sakurai in Japan — and captured the Shooto welterweight championship along the way. Between Nov. 12, 2005 and Oct. 23, 2010, Shields rattled off 15 consecutive victories, excelled in multiple weight classes and defeated a string of accomplished contemporaries: Martin Kampmann, Dan Henderson, Jason Miller, Robbie Lawler, Paul Daley, Mike Pyle, Carlos Condit and Yushin Okami.Shields’ career-defining tear ended at UFC 129, where he lost a five-round decision to the incomparable Georges St. Pierre in a failed bid to claim Ultimate Fighting Championship welterweight gold. A Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt under Cesar Gracie, he has gone 5-4 since, with wins over Yoshihiro Akiyama, Tyron Woodley, Demian Maia, Ryan Ford and Brian Foster offset by losses to Jake Ellenberger, Hector Lombard, Rousimar Palhares and Jon Fitch. Others in MMA celebrating a birthday during the month of January:JAN. 1 Guy Mezger (49)Eiji Mitsuoka (41)Charles Diaz (40)Robbie Peralta (31)John Lineker (27)Herica Tiburcio (24)JAN. 2 Mac …

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