It’s 2017 and it’s perfectly acceptable to refer to Jake Shields, one of the greatest welterweights ever, as ‘Nate Diaz’s training partner’.
How far the Stockton native has come from ‘not being able to move the needle,’ to being arguably the second biggest superstar in all of MMA. Since those back-to-back PPV smash-hits against Conor McGregor, Diaz’s profile has risen above that of his team, including legitimate legends of the game like Jake Shields.
McGregor’s success, on the other hand, has only seen the stock of some of his lesser-established training partners increase exponentially. Artem Lobov may be one fight away from a featherweight title shot, while Dillon Danis firmly believes he’s Bellator’s biggest name. That isn’t a shot at either fighter, but it is undeniable that their careers aren’t comparable to those of Shields, Melendez and several other members of Team Diaz.
Arguably the greatest knockout artist NOT in the UFC https://t.co/p82ZlZYV2L
— SportsJOE (@SportsJOEdotie) March 28, 2017
Tyron Woodley, Dan Henderson, Demian Maia, Robbie Lawler, Paul Daley, Carlos Condit and Yushin Okami all have one thing in common apart from being elite martial artists – a loss to Shields. Despite having never claimed a UFC belt, the former Strikeforce king has beaten several champions of the world’s largest MMA promotion throughout his storied career.
Although a recent dip in form in WSOF that has seen him go on a two-fight skid for only the second time in his career, the 38-year-old has a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt under Cesar Gracie, and is one of the great grapplers in MMA.
It has been confirmed that he will take on 23-year-old BJJ black belt Danis, who rose to prominence in the MMA community as a training partner of McGregor, The two are set to duke it out at Submission Underground 4, in a grappling contest that is sure to garner a hell of a lot of attention because of the rivalry between the two camps.
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