Jake Shields Ready for Daley Challenge

Jake Shields is confident he will retain his welterweight belt at Elite Xtreme Combat: CBS Saturday Night Fights 3. Shields’ opponent will be the highly rated UK star Paul "Semtex" Daley.

Shields gave his assessment of his opponent in an interview with MMAWeekly.com:

“I think it’s a good fight. He’s got great stand-up. I actually haven’t seen that many of his fights. I’ve got to start watching him fight. He’s a young kid, tough, so obviously I’m going to take him serious, start watching tapes and figure it out from there".

“I really wanted to fight Matt Lindland, but maybe that one can be put on in the future. Right now, I’m looking at Daley, getting this win… He’s a legit opponent.”

“I was very disappointed, but at this point all you can do is move on and get through the fight in front of you. I was a little disappointed I didn’t get to do the (Lindland) fight, but at least Elite is treating me really good and you know, they didn’t give me that fight, but they put me on CBS, gave me another good fight and I hear they’re trying to get me Shinya Aoki.”

”I don’t think Aoki wants to fight me. He’s got no warrior spirit. He’s from Japan, who’d have thought?”

Shields already has a plan in mind for the Daley fight:

“I’d like to take him down and submit him. I’m definitely not going to try and knock him out, but anything’s possible. I’m going to throw some punches.”

Paul Daley is the current Cage Rage and FX3 Welterweight World Champion and is widely regarded as one of the best pound for pound fighters in Europe. A team mate of recent UFC signee and current Cage Warriors World Champion Dan "The Outlaw" Hardy, Daley has become a transatlantic star due in part to his charismatic persona as well as his devastating Muay Thai striking. and has shown repeatedly that he can stun his opposition from a distance or close up with his explosive left hook and fearsome ground and pound.

Just a month after his bone shuddering KO win over UFC "The Ultimate Fighter 2" veteran Sammy Morgan, Daley stunned the MMA world by retiring in February just days after he won the King of the Ring Kickboxing Title against former K-1 Max Europe Finalist Marius Buzinskas.

Daley's announcement, which was made first on the Cage Warriors forums started a whirlwind of speculation and caused a huge amount of debate on MMA news sites, magazines and blogs, as MMA insiders and fans alike were shocked by the young UK star's decision to quit whilst at the top of his game.

Daley remained tight lipped about his situation until announcing in June he would return to fulfill his own personal desire to fight in his home town of Nottingham, before fulfilling his contractual obligations to Pro Elite. Although cynics doubted Daley would fight at Cage Warriors: Enter the Rough House 7 due to past disputes and withdrawals; Daley went out of his way to get permission from Pro Elite to fight at Cage Warriors on July 12 before returning to action in the United States later this year.

The man they call “Semtex” KOd Bojan "Zelva" Kosednar with seven seconds of the first round remaining. The left hook that finished the fight was further confirmation that Daley is one of the most accomplished strikers in MMA. His fight with Shields will give Daley the chance to become a major star in the States as the card will be live on network television.