While I have not seen the contract, there are two interesting provisions referenced in the article that likely explain the lack of any negotiation at this point.
The first, an exclusive negotiation provision, would provide that the parties to the agreement, i.e. Shields and Strikeforce, will negotiate exclusively for a set period of time upon termination of the contract. That is, Shields -- for whatever period is set in the contract (I don't know what it is and the article doesn't say, but whatever the term, it expires in three weeks according to the article) -- must only negotiate with Strikeforce (no other organization) to see if they can come to terms on a new agreement. As a practical matter, this provision would prevent Shields from negotiating with the UFC at this point.
The second applies after the exclusive negotiation period ends and gives Strikeforce the right of first refusal, i.e. the right to match Shields' best offer from any other organization.
Basically, if Strikeforce and Shields can't come to terms during the exclusive negotiation period, Shields is free to negotiate with whichever organization he wants, including, of course, the UFC. However, once he gets an offer from, say, the UFC, Shields has to give Strikeforce an opportunity to match those terms before Shields can accept the UFC's offer. If Strikeforce were to match the UFC's hypothetical offer, Shields would need to accept Strikeforce's offer and stay on with Strikeforce.
Because there is a right of first refusal in this contract, it is not surprising that Shields is not yet negotiating with Strikeforce as described in the article. Specifically, the exclusive negotiation period in the contract is virtually meaningless for Shields as a champion because Shields can only gain real leverage and get more favorable terms by talking to other organizations and bidding them against each other.
In other words, Shields can -- and will I would imagine -- use Strikeforce and the UFC to bid up his future pay. If, however, he entered into a deal with Strikeforce now, during the exclusive period, he would lose the inherent leverage that competition (and the market) provides.
In case you were wondering, this is probably why the "source" quoted (below) in the article mentioned that Strikeforce is considering waiving the exclusive negotiation period early -- because it realizes no real negotiating will happen until Shields gets the benefit of finding out his worth in the marketplace.
Yet one source with knowledge of Strikeforce's thinking regarding the 31-year-old Shields told SI.com the promotion has discussed releasing him outright before an exclusive negotiating period concludes three weeks from now. Once that expires, Strikeforce would also has the ability to match any offer made on Shields, whose 25-4-1 record features 14 consecutive wins since 2004.
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