Jake Shields challenged Cung Le for the Strikeforce Middleweight title after submitting Robbie Lawler.

In a catchweight superfight, former EliteXC welterweight champion Jake Shields scored a significant upset by submitting former EliteXC middleweight champion Robbie Lawler with a guillotine choke in the first round of their main event fight.

Shields, who moved up in weight to fight Lawler, went for takedowns immediately after the opening bell, but Lawler threw them off with relative ease. Despite being known for his heavy strikes, Lawler never threw anything dangerous and chose to clinch with Shields instead. Shields, the Gracie Jiu-Jitsu black belt and former All-American wrestler, got a hold of Lawler’s neck in the clinch, pulled guard, and locked in a guillotine choke which had Lawler tapping two minutes into the first round.

It was a great display of reflex by Shields, who was earlier frustrated in his takedown attempts but needed no second time of asking when presented with a submission opportunity. For Lawler, it was a disappointment to be submitted by a smaller man while not being able to showcase any of his own skills.