FiveKnuckles.com: After out-wrestling a legend like Dan Henderson, it's natural that fans might want to speculate about your chances against UFC welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre. What are your thoughts about a fight against GSP?

Jake Shields: I think it's a great fight and it has me really excited. I'm hoping that's a fight will come together sometime soon. I think we're both tremendous wrestlers. Even though he never wrestled in high school or anything, to say he's not a tremendous wrestler would be insane. I think my submission grappling is a little better, his standup game is a little better. I've been focusing on my standup a lot though, trying to close that gap.

FiveKnuckles.com: Well it's really seemed to pay dividends judging from the Henderson fight.

Jake Shields: Yeah, the first round I got rocked, but other than that I felt like I was winning the standup. That first round I kinda came in not paying attention, and just kinda walked right into that big right hand that everyone told me to watch out for (laughs). Did exactly what I wasn't supposed to do there.

FiveKnuckles.com: True, but you really showed fans a lot of heart by coming back from getting floored like that to dominate the fight the rest of the way through. Fans love to see guys come back from big shots and there isn't much of a bigger shot than Henderson's overhand right. That thing is a missile.

Jake Shields: Yeah that's true. It's one of the biggest punches in the sport. I'm not gonna say it's positive I got dropped, but I guess on one hand it's good. People like to see heart and people want to know if you can get dropped and come through it. I guess it's good for me to know that I can do that too. I've never been dropped in a fight, or been pushed like that, so now I know I can take a shot like that, recover and keep fighting.

The first part of that first round is just a big blur to me. I was rocked and he rocked me again, and then about halfway through the first round I started slowly getting my wits together, but I was a little disoriented that first round. Not quite sure exactly what was going on. I knew I was in a fight and I knew he was hitting me. I had no idea I got dropped. I just knew he was coming at me hard, and I didn't want to lose. Especially in that first round, it would have been embarrassing. A lot of people were picking him to knock me out in that first round, and to have that happen would have just been completely embarrassing. So all I could do was just keep fighting, keep fighting... and I remember thinking that if I just kept moving the ref probably wouldn't stop it. So I went for a foot lock. I just made sure to keep really active so they wouldn't stop...