Last night at Las Vegas’ Planet Hollywood, the World Series of Fighting’s 17th event went down, and the main event featured Jake Shields making short work of Brian Foster in a bout that ended with a neck crank in the opening round.
Shields was a big favorite at the books, and he will be next up to face leg-lock machine and welterweight titleholder Rousimar Palhares for a shot at the belt.
Shields has won two fights in the first round for the first time in a very long time. Prior to this two fight streak, the last time a Jake Shields fight did not go the distance was when he lost to Jake Ellenberger. You have to go back to 2009 to find the last time Shields won a fight that did not go the distance. It was pretty much a foregone conclusion that Shields was going to win, but if you sided with the over in this fight, Shields burned you again.
The matchup with Palhares will be an interesting one to see the line on. Shields is a long-time Jiu Jitsu black belt who has never been submitted in more than 40 mixed martial arts fights. Shields is having an easier time with the drop off in level of competition, and he is freer to go for it a bit more. It is also possible that Shields has amped up his finishing in an attempt to get back to the UFC for one final run.
Also on the main card, Joe Condon submitted Johnathan Nunez with a guillotinie choke late in the third round. Wrestler Krasimir Mladenov won a unanimous decision over Brendan Kornberger.
Bryson Hansen and Danny Davis Jr also won unanimous decisions, over Rudy Morales and Adam Cella respectively. The fast Shields submission was made even more welcome at the end of a long night of fights winding up being decided by the judges.
Look for the Palhares versus Shields showdown to take place in the first half of 2015, though the company’s calendar does not extend itself beyond WSOF 18 on February 12th at this point.
Take a look at the Shields-Foster weigh ins:
