Jake Shields

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Jake Shields
Statistics
Height	5 ft. 11 in. (180 cm)
Weight	170 lb. (77 kg)
Born	January 9, 1979
Fighting out of	San Luis Obispo, California
Town of birth	San Luis Obispo, California
Fighting style	Wrestling, Jiu Jitsu
Mixed martial arts record
Wins	15
By knockout	1
By submission	4
Losses	4
Draws	0
No contests	0

Jake Shields (January 9, 1979 in San Luis Obispo, California) is an American mixed martial artist, currently fighting at 170 lbs (77 kg). He holds a mixed martial arts record of 15 wins, 4 losses, and is the Rumble on the Rock 175 lb (79 kg). Champion. He is also the former Shooto World Champion. He has trained extensively with Cesar Gracie and Dave Terrell, and has coached such MMA stars as Gilbert Melendez and Nick Diaz.

Jake Shields was born January 9, 1979. He was raised near Mt. Ranch, California in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Jake is a life-long vegetarian. He was home schooled up to junior high. He and his two older brothers grew up at the end of a dirt road on the rim of the Jesus Maria Canyon. Their nearest friends were a 45 minute hike down one side of the canyon and up the other. Their activities included mountain biking, wild caving, snowboarding, clearing brush, bucking firewood, climbing mountains, exploring the high country, and wrestling.

Jake began amateur wrestling at age nine. He has competed in over 650 folk, freestyle, and submission wrestling matches. Jake was a four year varsity wrestler and state qualifier at Calaveras High School, finished 2nd place at the Amateur Athletic Union National Freestyle Championships, qualified for U.S.A./ Fila Nationals & World Team Trials in both the junior & university men's divisions. He is also a two time All American wrestler from Cuesta College, three time Grapplers Quest Advance Champion, Pan American Games Jiu Jitsu Champion, Pan Am Open Advance Submission Champion, Gracie Open Superfight Champion, and finished 3rd place at the ADCC Submission Wrestling World Championship in 2005.

In September 1999, Jake began his MMA training by joining Chuck Liddell's SLO Kickboxing Academy. Within a few weeks he fought his first fight, filling in for an injured teammate at 185 lbs. In 2001 Jake decided he wanted to make a career of mixed martial arts and began fighting at his natural weight of 170 lbs (77 kg). In the years since he is 13-2, including six championship fights.

Jake has consistently fought top ranked and highly regarded opposition. Among his victories are wins over Hayato Sakurai, Akira Kikuchi, Dave Menne, Milton Vieira, Ray Cooper, Carlos Condit, Yushin Okami, and Jeremy Jackson.

In the summer of 2001 Jake received a wrestling scholarship to SF State. At that time he began training with the Cesar Gracie Fight Team, resulting in a dramatic improvement in his jiu jitsu. He continued to improve on the kickboxing skills he picked up with Chuck Liddell, by cross-training with the professional Muay Thai kickboxing team at the Fairtex combat Academy, training with legendary Muay Thai Champions, Jongsanan Fairtex and Alex Gong.

Jake has been the head instructor of jiu jitsu and MMA at the Fairtex-Gracie affiliate in San Francisco since March 2002. He is also affiliated with Tulsa Top Team in Tulsa, Oklahoma.