Shields: I want to be #1 contender by end of ’12

“I’m feeling great about my opponent. [Akiyama] is someone that I should match up good against. I just wanna have a great year.

“2011 wasn’t my best year and I just wanna get back on track and get a couple of big wins to get myself lined back up for another title shot. I would like to be the number one contender by the end of 2012.

“Right now I wanna see Nick [Diaz} go out there and take that belt and then I’ll worry about what I’m gonna do from there.”