A three division world champion and two-time Olympic gold medal winner, Claressa Shields, took a huge risk when she decided to test the waters in mixed martial arts.
Considered by many as the best pound-for-pound fighter in women’s boxing, Shields signed a contract with PFL and made her MMA debut in 2021.
In her debut bout, she picked up a stoppage win over Brittney Elkin. Shields was down on the cards when she stopped Elkin in the third and final round.
She wasn’t as lucky in her next bout, as he lost a split decision to Abigail Montes.
Despite the mixed bag in MMA, Shields has no regrets about her decision to step in the cage.
“I don’t regret doing MMA,” Shields said on The MMA Hour. “I’m 1-1, I lost a fight — a split decision that could have went either way against an opponent who’d been doing MMA her whole life. So the fact that I was doing MMA only a year, trying to learn the ground game and trying to learn some wrestling and add it to my boxing, and then to lose a split — like, I didn’t get knocked out, I didn’t get armbarred, I didn’t get submitted.
“I just lost a split decision. I don’t regret it at all. It actually made me a better fighter. It showed me what I already knew — I can do whatever I put my mind to. I beat a girl who was a brown belt and had been doing MMA for 13 years. I went in there and I was able to beat her, so I just know that I’m dangerous whether it’s in a boxing ring or it’s in a cage.”
Shields is back in action this coming Saturday night. She defends her undisputed middleweight crown against Maricela Cornejo at Detroit’s Little Caesars Arena.
At some point, Shields is planning to make another MMA run.
According to the undefeated fighter, discussions are already underway with PFL.
“I would like to do MMA again,” Shields said. “We are in talks with PFL now to try to see what the plan is, but I would like to be given the right amount of time to train and to learn the craft of MMA, to have me a solid team behind me, because I’ve just been winging it.
“I went to JacksonWink and I trained with them, and they were a great team. I did a lot of jiu-jitsu training, a lot of wrestling. But it just was like, you get a 30-minute session, a 45-minute session — you don’t really get like the full [experience]. Like, I go to the gym and I don’t train less than three hours for boxing, and I’ve been doing boxing for 17 years.
“So I feel like in MMA, I want to have that same kind of routine in order for me to just learn those arts, because I’m far behind the other girls, but my boxing gives me a little lift. But if I can’t be on my feet, then we have to figure out something else. So I just want to learn those arts to where it can give me a better chance at winning. I’m not afraid to do MMA. I’ve already done it. I just want to — I like to win. I like to win fights.”
