Claressa Shields provides bleak update about her MMA career after 2-1 run: ‘Not enough time’
Boxing superstar Claressa Shields’ MMA career might be coming to an abrupt end just three fights into her PFL tenure.
Claressa Shields is arguably one of the greatest boxers, male or female, to compete in the ring in the sport’s decorated history. After earning a slew of world championship belts, Shields opted to leap into MMA, which drew significant hype from fans, fighters, and pundits.
Shields appeared to live up to the hype when she finished Brittney Elkin in come-from-behind fashion during her 2021 PFL and professional MMA debut. Talks of a potential fight between then-PFL superstars Kayla Harrison and Shields began to surface, and the debate of who would get the better of the other in the cage ramped up.
But Shields faced her first significant case of adversity in MMA in her following fight against Abigail Montes at the 2021 PFL World Championship. She lost to Montes by split decision and struggled mightily with her ground game.
After bouncing back against Kelsey DeSantis last February, Shields seemed intrigued at potentially getting more activity in MMA over boxing. But her recent remarks potentially point to a sharp pivot from that stance.
Claressa Shields hints at retiring from MMA after 2-1 run in PFL
During a recent media scrum with FightHype and other outlets, Shields addressed what’s next for her in MMA and provided an empty response.
“I don’t know about MMA, I did everything I wanted to do all over there,” Shields said. “I went over there, won two fights, lost a split [decision], there’s not enough time in the day for me to train for MMA…
“Not enough time to train to become a PFL world champion.”
Shields’ honesty provides some clarity on her immediate MMA future. It’s a 180-degree turn from Shields’ faceoff with former boxing foe Savannah Marshall following Marshall’s MMA debut last June at PFL Europe 2.
After Marshall defeated Mirela Vargas in her professional MMA and PFL debut, Shields and Marshall seemed destined for a crossover rematch of their 2022 boxing fight. Shields defeated Marshall in the boxing ring by unanimous decision to hand the UK star her first professional loss.
