Breaking Down UFC 121: Jake Shields Vs Martin Kampmann

Added on Oct 23, 2010 by John Petit in

UFC & MMA

People have been wondering why Jake Shields hasn’t been in the UFC for a long time now. The debut of Shields in the Octagon has been speculated about for years now, and its finally here. Coming off a dominating performance over and Dan Henderson, and a title defense against Jason Mayhem Miller where he controlled him for five solid rounds, the UFC finally stepped up and went after the all-star grappler. The 25-4-1 fighter is riding a 14 fight win streak, and his last 6 were wins over people who just left the UFC or were on their way there. You may here people say this is a step up in competition for Jake, but we know better. Shields has a way of always putting fighters on the defensive. His combination of wrestling and Jiu Jitsu is smothering, and his quick transitions force his opponents to make mistakes. His timing is damn near perfect, and the trap into submissions can snap shut in an instance.

Martin Kampmann enjoys the edge in the stand up, but that could be because Shields doesn’t play with people on the feet if he thinks he is beat. His kick boxing based style would have you think he has holes in his ground game, and he doesn’t have that many. Training at X-treme Couture the 17-3 fighter knows his way around the wrestling mat, and he has 6 submission wins thus far in his career. He trains with top-shelf grapplers every day of the week, and there is no doubt in my mind he is training to stop Jake’s takedowns.

This might be the first time I ever say that this may be the first time someone thats already in the UFC is taking a step up in competition, to a guy who is having his first UFC fight. Jake Shields knows how to game plan for fights, and there is no doubt in my mind that he is going to do very little standing with Kampmann. There is a lot of the line for Jake, as Dana White is saying he could be next in line for the title with a win over Kampmann. The fans might find it boring, but there is no way Shields rolls the dice when the stakes are this high. I expect Jake to control this fight from start to finish. Is there a chance Shields finishes Kampmann inside of 15 minutes? Yes, of course there is. However, you can bet that if it happens it will come by way of a submission. I’m giving Kampmann the punchers chance of winning this fight. If he can somehow stop a few of Jake’s takedowns early in the fight, and is able to frustrate Jake, I wouldn’t be shocked to see him get dropped by the quick striking of of Kampmann. Jake Shields will get the win in this one, and most likely it will come by way of decision. I could also see Jake getting a submission in the final frame.