Late Thursday evening, Graciefighter.com reported that Jake Shields had come to terms with the UFC, and would debut in the organization as a welterweight in the near future.However, when MMA Fighting contacted Dana White to confirm the report, the UFC president refuted it.
"Not true," White wrote via text.
Share White did confirm that both sides are still negotiating a deal, and appeared confident that one would be reached.
When asked what the hold up was to sign the now former Strikeforce middleweight champion, White responded, "They take time," referring to contract negotiations.
Strikeforce recently announced that they would not be re-signing the 31-year-old Shields. The organization has stripped him of his title, and announced recently a vacant middleweight title fight between Tim Kennedy and Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza on Aug. 21.
Both Shields and the UFC have publicly expressed a desire to work together once Shields' negotiation period completed with Strikeforce.
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