Tomorrow night's tilt against Jake Ellenberger was already a difficult task, now Jake Shields is also dealing with the recent passing of father, mentor and manager Jack.
"I had a really tough time," Shields said in a statement. "It took me a moment to figure out what I wanted to do but I figured the right thing to do would be to continue to fight with him being my manager and my biggest supporter."
Shields said his father's death has allowed him to focus even more during training.
"It's been (a) little tough since then, but I don't think it's really affected my training" Shields said. "When it's been time to focus and train, I've been able to pull it together and got some of the best workouts and sparring sessions ever in the last couple of weeks."
Shields (26-5-1) and Ellenberger clash in the main event on Spike from New Orleans. Shields is coming off a competitive loss in April to Georges St-Pierre, the UFC's welterweight champ.
Ellenberger (25-5, 4-1 UFC) is a tough cookie. His wrestling is solid and he'll stand and bang. Shields will likely turn to his awesome submission game to take out the upstart Ellenberger. His trainer Tariq Azim doesn't sound too worried about Ellenberger's skill set.
"Jake brings more to this fight than Ellenberger can ever dream of," Azim said. "Ellenberger is good. He wouldn't be fighting Shields if he wasn't, but Shields has worked a lot harder and has a better understanding of the game. Ellenberger will be hoping to land a big hit, but Shields will set him up, take him down and choke him out."
UFN 25 betting odds:
Jake Shields (-185) vs. Jake Ellenberger (+160)- Welterweight
Court McGee (-165) vs. Dongi Yang (+135) - Middleweight
Jonathan Brookins (+155) vs. Erik Koch (-185) - Featherweight
Alan Belcher (-280) vs. Jason MacDonald (+220) - Middleweight
Cody McKenzie (+130) vs. Vagner Rocha (-160) - Lightweight
Evan Dunham (-500) vs. Shamar Bailey (+350) - Lightweight
Matt Riddle (-200) vs. Lance Benoist (+160) - Welterweight
Ken Stone (-120) vs. Donny Walker (Even) - Bantamweight
Clay Harvison (+125) vs. Seth Baczynski (-155) - Welterweight
T.J. Waldburger (-225) vs. Mike Stumpf (+175) - Welterweight
Mike Lullo (+135) vs. Robert Peralta (-155) - Featherweight
Justin Edwards (+300) vs. Jorge Lopez (-450) - Welterweight
Cheryl Burke China Chow Chloë Sevigny Christina Aguilera Christina Applegate Christina DaRe
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