Shields-Miller Putting Friendship Aside

Shields and Mayhem are putting their friendship aside for 25 minutes.

Jake Shields and Jason “Mayhem” Miller are friends.

They make no secrets about it. It was perfectly evident during the pre-fight teleconference, which hyped their upcoming fight on the Strikeforce on CBS card featuring the main event between Fedor Emelianenko and Brett Rogers.

Shields talked about how they went out a few times, but they weren’t necessarily talking on the phone on an everyday basis.

Mayhem’s reaction to those types of comments? The typical one you’d expect from the host of “MTV’s Bully Beatdown.”

“You’re breaking my heart, man,” Miller told Shields jokingly. “I thought you were my best friend. I thought we had a connection.”

But all kidding aside, Miller and Shields both have said that they have no problems punching each other in the face.

So when the smoke clears, one man will be the newly crowned Strikeforce middleweight champion.

“If he knocks me out I’ll be very sore at him for one night,” Mayhem said. “Nah, I’ve fought my own Dad so many times and we’re still friends. It all comes down to competition. … We’re trying to hurt each other as bad as we can in those 25 minutes inside the cage but that afterwards we can be buddies because that’s our job and it’s just a competition.

“If the media wants us to we can hate each other.”

Miller is the always a willing and able performer, and he wants the fight to be an entertaining experience for both himself and the fans who are watching the fight.

Bluntly stated: He wants everyone talk about it on the next day.

“I’m going to put some showmanship into it,” Miller said. “That’s not that common in the shows here in America, but if I can put some flair into it and people are going to be talking about it around the water cooler on Monday, well there you go. That’s the way to capitalize that we’re on CBS, regular television where you can get it on your bunny ears.”

Shields is his media opposite.

He prefers to hype the fight in the usual manner — talk about his opponent’s strengths and show an incredible amount of respect for his fellow Brazilian jiu-jitsu practitioner.

Shields has prepared for this fight by training all aspects, because in fighting Miller, anything is possible.

“I’ve been working on everything. I haven’t been working on just one approach to fighting “Mayhem,” said Shields, who has appeared on a couple of Miller’s “Bully Beatdown episodes”. “I’m just working on every aspect.”

Shields is thankful that he will get another opportunity to fight on CBS, after he defeated Paul Daley on the final EliteXC show on the network.

“It’s going to be a great night for the fans,” Shields said. “Going back to CBS is huge. This will be my third time fighting on CBS and I really appreciate the exposure.”

He and Miller will fight for the vacant Strikeforce middleweight title, which was vacated by Cung Le when he couldn’t make another defense of his title, after winning it from Frank Shamrock.

Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker hopes to have Le back into the cage sometime, but in the meantime, he’ll focus on his stable of fighters and developing his middleweight talent pool.

So what are the predictions for the fight?

Leave it to Shields for the cliched answer.

“I think it’s going to be a great fight. We match up pretty well,” Shields said. “It’s going to be non-stop action. I’m in great shape and I’m sure he will be also. This is a big opportunity for him.”