Props: BJPenn.com

Quoteworthy:

"I’m brand new to the UFC but they have treated me absolutely wonderful much better than Strikeforce to this point. They return my phone calls and I get seats unlike Strikeforce but so far things have been absolutely perfect. I don’t want to knock Strikeforce because that’s not my style even though they did treat me like shit which was unnecessary because I never talked bad about them. Honestly I would love to see Gilbert and Nick in the UFC. Even though Strikeforce is a good show, everyone knows it’s the number two show. They have a handful of good fighters but all the top competition is in the UFC and I feel that Nick and Gilbert are good enough to fight at the highest level. I just don’t see Strikeforce putting the marketing strength behind him as they didn’t for me. I feel like they (Strikeforce) want to go after the places that have already been built like Shamrock or Cung Le. They don’t seem really interested in building top young fighters in their prime. They had a great batch of young fighters like me, Nick, Gil and King Mo but they weren’t interested in great young fighters and instead all the push went to 'has beens' like Shamrock and Cung Le. It seemed like they wanted to push people who were no where near their prime."

Former Strikeforce Middleweight Champion Jake Shields talks about his time in Strikeforce as he prepares for what seems like an inevitable run within the ranks of the UFC. The Cesar Gracie grappling guru wants to eventually bring team mates Nick Diaz and Gilbert Melendez over to the world's largest fight promotion and Shields is currently working on maintaining his size. Do you expect a middleweight debut with an eye towards Anderson Silva? Or will he make a run in the UFC's 170-pound division and get his wish of a Georges St. Pierre superfight?