Shields is more than happy to fight the former two-division UFC champion inside the ring or the cage
The self-proclaimed GWOAT of boxing, Claressa Shields, recently revealed how former UFC champion Amanda Nunes played a role in her move to mixed martial arts.
Inside the squared circle, no woman has accomplished more than Shields. Aside from being a multi-time world champion in five different weight classes, she is one of only four boxers in history, female or male, to hold all four major world titles in boxing—WBA, WBC, IBF, and WBO—in two weight classes. Shields is also a two-time Olympic gold medalist, topping the podium at both the 2012 and 2016 Summer Games.
After dominating the sweet science, Shields opted to trade in her eight-ounce gloves for a pair of four-ouncers, making her mixed martial arts debut under the Professional Fighters League banner.
Claressa Shields Isn’t Afraid to Fight Amanda Nunes, Whether It Be in the Ring or the Cage
During a recent appearance on The Art of Ward with boxing legend Andre Ward, Shields revealed the role that former two-division UFC queen Amanda Nunes played in getting her to make the move from the ring to the cage. Shields also made it clear that while ‘The Lioness’ holds an undeniable advantage in MMA, Nunes would get outclassed real quick in a boxing match between the two.
“I said, are y’all stupid? In a boxing match, I would destroy Amanda Nunes,” Shields said. “Let’s be real now. MMA? Pump your brakes. I’ve got to put in some years and years for that. But boxing? Stop playing with me—with my left and my right.”
So Amanda said, ‘Tell Claressa she’ll come to my world, and I’ll choke the [expletive] out of her.’ That’s what she said. And I said, ‘This girl thinks I’m scared of getting choked? You think I’m scared of fighting her?’ Yeah, I’m gonna show these girls. I fight—I will fight y’all, but y’all won’t fight me. It’s two different fights—apples and oranges. I will come over there and peel that orange, but you won’t come over here and bite this apple. It’s two different things.
So, for me, it was just to tug at them, make them mad, to show them. Like, I knew it was going to be hard, but I actually enjoy MMA.”
Shields is 2-1 in MMA after alternating wins and losses in her first three appearances. She came out on top in her PFL debut in June 2021, scoring a third-round TKO against Brittney Elkin. She followed that up with a closely-contested split decision loss against Abigail Montes before climbing back into the win column via a decision W over Kelsey DeSantis.
While Shields has spent a considerable amount of time training for her future in MMA, that hasn’t stopped her from continuing to kick ass inside the ring. In July, she scored a second-round TKO against Vanessa Lepage-Joanisse to claim the WBC and WBF female heavyweight championships.
Published on January 6, 2025 at 10:21 pm
