The upcoming August 15th Strikeforce event, which will be headlined with the women’s ‘superfight’ between Gina Carano and Cristiane “Cyborg” Santos, could also feature Jake Shields vs. Matt Lindland. According to a recent report from FiveKnuckles.com, sources close to the former Elite XC champion have confirmed that Shields has agreed to fight the accomplished veteran Lindland. The report goes onto add that Lindland is apparently “contemplating the match up, and if he takes the fight, bout agreements will be dispersed shortly.”
One would think that if the money’s right, there’s a strong possibility Lindland will take the fight, after all, this is the same dude that has fought Fedor Emelianenko and “Rampage” Jackson despite being a natural middleweight. (In fact, according to a local Oregon legend, Lindland once challenged an entire camp of lumberjacks to a brawl. The only conditions he set was that they could use their chainsaws, as long as they weren’t turned on…)
The 39 year-old UFC vet, although he won’t be entering any Mr. Universe competitions anytime soon, (he could easily win a ‘Dude Who Doesn’t Look Bad Ass But Could Wipe the Floors with You and Your 6 Buddies’ competition) has 21 victories on his MMA record and has defeated notable fighters like Jeremy Horn, Phil Baroni and Joe Doerksen. In January, Lindland was knocked out six ways from Sunday by Vitor Belfort.
Shields continues to make a solid case that he is not only one of the world’s best welterweights, but that he could be one of the planet’s best pound-for-pound fighters. Case in point, his last fight against highly regarded middleweight Robbie Lawler, who was quickly ‘restrained’ and forced to tap out via Shield’s first round guillotine choke. (Extremely impressive, especially when one considers unreliable reports that Lawler knocked over several buses afterwards with his fists- a scene which allegedly caused several residents to believe that ‘The Hulk’ had stormed into St.Louis)
Of course Shields has also stated his desire to fight Frank Shamrock, as apparently Nick Diaz’s severe beat down of the former UFC champ, didn’t do enough to extinguish the burning fires of hatred for Shamrock throughout Cesar Gracie’s camp. Somehow we’re thinking Lindland vs. Shields might make for a more intriguing match-up…
