Shields (photo by Esther Lin / Strikeforce)

By FCF Staff

Despite having only lost one fight in his last five contests, renowned grappler Jake Shields has reportedly been cut by the UFC. The welterweight’s release comes less than a month after he dropped a unanimous decision loss to Hector Lombard at UFC 171.

News of the 35 year-old fighter’s release is being reported by MMAFighting.com, which cites the fighter’s manager Lex McMahon. The latter has also retweeted the aforementioned report.

The UFC has not made any official announcement regarding Shield’s reported release.

Prior to facing Lombard, Shields had scored consecutive decision wins over Demian Maia and Tyron Woodley, both of whom are top ten ranked welterweights. Shields is currently ranked #11.

Both fights were not celebrated by many fans, however, due to the grappling based approach Shields’ utilizes.

In 2012, Shields worked his way to a win over Ed Herman, however the result was overturned after Shields failed his post-fight drug test due to an undisclosed reason.

The only other men to defeat Shields since 2004 are former champion Georges St. Pierre and fellow contender Jake Ellenberger.