Claressa Shields is officially done with MMA.
After becoming the undisputed ‘GWOAT’ of women’s boxing, Shields felt it was time to conquer another sport. In 2021, she signed with the Professional Fighters League, making her promotional debut in June of that year against the well-rounded Brittany Elkin.
Despite some early adversity, Shields scored a ground-and-pound TKO in the third, leaving many to wonder if they’d just witnessed the birth of MMA’s next big female star.
MMA debut
@Claressashields earned the third-round TKO victory at #2021PFL4 pic.twitter.com/U1DZZsKctq
— ESPN MMA (@espnmma) June 11, 2021
Shields’ momentum took a bit of a hit in her sophomore appearance, surrendering a split-decision to Abby Montes later that same year, but she bounced back with a win over Kelsey DeSantis at the PFL vs. Bellator event in February 2024.
Claressa Shields doesn’t have enough time for mMA
Since then, Shields has focused on her boxing career, winning the undisputed heavyweight championship in February to become boxing’s first-ever three-division undisputed champion, male or female. She’ll put her heavyweight gold on the line this July against Lani Daniels, leaving many to wonder when or if she’ll ever dawn the four-ounce gloves again.
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Well, we now know courtesy of the ‘GWOAT’ herself.
“MMA is done,” Shields said during an appearance on The Ariel Helwani Show. “It was fun, but I don’t have enough time to train for it. It takes six to eight months just to get ready to defend takedowns. Even though I got a lot better and put in the time, I broke my arm twice. It was fun, and I enjoyed every fight I did.
“It takes a lot of time to train for MMA — time that I don’t have. I had aspirations of becoming a PFL MMA world champion and fighting Kayla Harrison or Larissa Pacheco one day. I had those dreams and aspirations, but I just don’t have enough time. I’m already great in boxing, and to be great like that in MMA, I would have to train consistently for at least three to four years. I did really well in MMA. It was fun, but it was too hard.
“My family never wanted me to do it. I did it because I wanted to prove a point, and I proved that point — to myself three times; though you could say twice because I won twice. I got into a new relationship, and he can’t even handle me boxing. We had a talk, and he was like, ‘I cannot handle MMA.’ He said, ‘Can you please not do that anymore?’ I was like, ‘Okay.’”
