Nick “The Goat” Thompson (36-9-1) has been named as the opponent to take on Jake Shields (20-4-1) for the first-ever Elite XC welterweight championship bout during the second installment of “Saturday Night Fights” on CBS to be held on July 26.
At this point, Shields has to be thrilled just to be finally fighting for this 170-pound belt regardless of the opponent. And “The Goat” just so happens to be a serious competitor.
Two previously scheduled fights between Shields and Drew Fickett were scrapped earlier this year because of injuries sustained to both fighters in training. It was believed Fickett would still get the opportunity to fight for the inaugural championship, but in a bizarre turn of events, he pulled a Houdini act with Elite XC officials after fighting without the promotion’s knowledge on a small show in Arizona.
In steps Nick Thompson.
“The Goat” is no step down in competition for Shields. In fact, the former Bodog champion has an insane amount of fights to his credit and has only been competing for a little more than five years. It’s fitting the announcement for the biggest fight to date for the young, talented and experienced fighter would come today on his 27th birthday.
He is currently riding a 12 fight win streak and remains the only man to defeat fast rising star Eddie Alvarez. it came with a second round knockout last April to earn the Bodog welterweight crown.
Shields is a name that is quickly becoming one of the more recognized in the business.
After defeating Dave Menne in January of 2006, he went out three months later to beat Yushin Okami and Carlos Condit in the same night to win a Rumble on the Rock eight-man grand prix tournament. Needless to say, Shields opened up a lot of eyes and the Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt under Cesar Gracie is on everybody’s top 10 welterweight list.
He’s on a nine fight winning streak of his own, including three straight wins under the Elite XC banner. He is one of the brightest stars Elite XC has on its roster and he was a shoe in for their first welterweight title fight.
“Unfinished Business” is on it’s way to becoming a great night of fights with two title fights confirmed and two more rumored to be taking place on the CBS card. A venue for the event has not been confirmed as of yet, but the rumor mill has been spinning, naming Stockton, Calif., as the leading candidate
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Wow, another show by the greatest MMA promotion on Earth!
At this point, I am going to stop supporting the Ceaser Gracie boys, until they get the hell away from EliteXC. Nick Diaz, Jake Sheilds and Gilbert Melendez are all too good to be fighting in that Joke of an organization. I love those guys as fighters but enough is enough. I am not saying to sign with the UFC (although I wish they would), but just get away from Gary Shaw. I would be happy if they signed with any of these organizations: DREAM, Affliction, UFC….just get away from EliteXC
If Gilbert ever comes to the UFC, he will terrorize any lightweight not named BJ Penn.
Sheilds would become GSP’s toughest threat.
and Nick is just a crazy crowd favorite!
The UFC should reallyt try to get Eddie Alvarez and Paul “Semtex” daley as well!
John, what is wrong with Nick “The Goat” Thompson as an opponent. He is just as dangerous, if not more dangerous than Drew Fickett. I am just happy that Shields is FINALLY going to fight for his title. Him and that belt are just jinxed. I would not be the least bit surprised if one of them get injured training in the next month.
Other than The Goat’s win over Eddie Alvarez, his other notable wins are Josh Neer and Chris Wilson. His notable losses came to Karo, Okami, and he lost to Ed Herman back in 2005. That is a pretty bad loss.
Can’t wait to see the odds for this fight. Easy money to be made on Shields!
I actually like the Goat as an opponent, but then what? What good will it be for Jake to hold the title in EliteXC if they wont have any decent contenders? He will beat the Goat, and it will be EASY money for us, and then maybe if “The Master” gets his head out of his ass that could be Jake’s 1st title defense (but probably not), more likely he will fight Semtex for his 1st title defense….and then Who is there left? he will have cleared out the division after 1 title defense? lol
My beef is that Sheilds is just too damn good to not be throwing his hat into the best welterweight division, which is the UFC. I think Jake could rise right to the top and get a crack at GSP, and give him his toughest fight Ever!
Gilbert also, should be either fighting in the UFC or in DREAM, just leave EliteXC alone. How many top 10 fighters
do EliteXC have under contract to Challenge Jake or Gilbert? probably NONE!! All the competition is in Japan or the UFC for Gilbert and the UFC for Jake!
Jake needs to get his ass over to the UFC so he can capitalize on his talent…
Agreed. It’s like being a decent pro football prospect and settling for the arena league.
MATT BROWN VS MATT ARROYO is upon mmascraps.com right now if anyone is interested? 1rst time id seen it,a pretty decent fight.arroyo looked good for about 4 mins then brown took over and dominated him. it will be interesting to see how many guys from this years tuf moves down to ww. only c.b,riddle and jesse looked like real mws imo.
Thanks for the heads up!!
no problem.
AWESOME, thanks for the hook up!
And correct me if I am wrong……EliteXC has a WW(170 lb), a 160 lb and a LW(155 lb).
WTF?????? Shaw made the 160 especially for Diaz???
And invented another division for Carano(140), but her fat ass can never make it, so she gets the more popular names and can come in heavy
Why doesnt Shaw “INVENT” another weight class. How about a 165 lb. why not haev a 155, 160, 165 ,and 170?????
Shaw deserves to be in the WWE, making up shit as he goes along or in junk bonds trying to scam people
Elite XC weight classes:
Heavyweight: 265 lbs.
Light heavyweight: 205 lbs.
Middleweight: 185 lbs.
Welterweight: 170 lbs.
Lightweight: 160 lbs.
Whats so confusing about that? Correct me if I’m wrong…wasn’t Pride’s lightweight class 160 lbs? I doubt Pride created the 160 lb. weight class for Nick Diaz. And yes Shaw is making the female weight class for his company’s title at 145 lbs. There’s not many other top class organizations out there with female weight classes at all, so I wasn’t aware there was a standard. Unless of course, you’re an expert on female MMA, in which case, please, enlighten us all.
its s shame the EliteXC uses kimbo as their posterboy. they do have some pretty good fighters
Few and far between. I understand some are just trying to come up, but I dont think fighting the mediocre level of talent in EliteXc will make any of these guys ready to fight in the UFC. Diaz is probably the only acception to that.
jake shields aswell as a few others
Hardly a “great night of fights”. Entertaining match-ups for us “hardcore fans”. I personally can’t get too worked up about an organization that “manages the outcome” (e.g. Ferguson vs. Thompson) of a fight. They are a tainted organization. Elite XC is about the fifth ranked organization (if that).
lawler vs. smith II middleweight title
noons vs. diaz II lightweight title
shields vs. thompson welterweight title
looks like a great card to me, and there’s still two more main card fights to be announced. what is there to not be excited about? there’s potentially 4 titles on the line in one night…thats unheard of.
i swear, if the sky was raining gold, there was world peace, and jesus himself came down from the heavens and handed each man 5 virgins and an endless supply of beer, some of you guys would still find something to complain about.
there are controversial stoppages and questionable decisions in every organization…its just part of the sport.
bill murray put it best - “nobody likes a whiner”
The so called “titles” that they are competing for are meaningless. I guess we differ on the meaning of the word “great”.
is it just me? or are MMA fans the biggest whiners of all sports?? its the toughest sport in the world(rugby being a close 2nd), and yet fans COMPLAIN soooo much.
Only 5 virgins? What a rip off!
Yes & Thank You!
Well I, for one, am extremely excited to see the Goat get some major exposure. I think he can take Jake Shields. He might be the best fighter nobody knows about.
This fight won’t happen Jake “The China Doll” Shields will go on the shelf again right before the fight.
if it happens it should be a great fight but i won’t be rushing to see another cbs disaster i will dvr it
Plain and simple, this is going to be a great fight. These are (at least in my opinion) the two best non-UFC welterweights.