Claressa Shields is done with MMA.
Shields, 30, is best known for her boxing accolades. The Flint, Michigan native has held titles in five weight classes, and is considered one of the best female boxers of all time. However, several years ago, she boldly transitioned into MMA.
All three of Shieldsâ MMA bouts occurred under the Professional Fighters League (PFL) banner. In her first, in 2021, she weathered some early adversity to stop Brittney Elkin in round three. In her next fight, later the same year, she lost a close decision to Abigail Montes. Her final fight occurred last year, after a long hiatus, when she beat Kelsey DeSantis by decision.
Speaking on The Ariel Helwani Show on Monday, Shields revealed she will not compete in MMA again.
She claimed that the PFL offered her the opportunity to fight one more time, but she decided to turn the offer down, and shift her focus back to boxing.
âI was offered one more fight with the PFL and it would have been against a girl who was probably on my level,â she said.
âMMA is done, sweetheart,â she added. âI donât enough time to train for it. It takes six months, eight months to just get ready to defend takedowns. I got a lot better, I put in time, I got my arm broken twice. It was fun and I enjoyed every fight. I did.â
Why is Claressa Shields retiring from MMA?
Claressa Shields revealed that her new relationship factored into her decision to retire from MMA.
âMy family never wanted me to do it,â she said. âI did it because I wanted to prove a point and I proved that point.
âI got in my new relationship, and he canât even handle me boxing. Heâs going crazy when Iâm fighting, even when Iâm dominating. We had a talk and he was like âI can not handle MMA.â He was like âcan you please not do that anymore.â I was like âOk.ââ
Shields should be proud of the success she had in MMA. Very few boxers have attempted what she did, let alone with any success.
However, she admits she did hope to win a PFL title.
âI did have aspirations to become PFL MMA world champion, and having a fight with Kayla Harrison one day, or Larissa Pacheco,â she said. âI did have those dreams, I did have those aspirations, but just not enough time. Iâm great already in boxing. To be that great in MMA, I would need to train at least three, four years consistently.â
Congrats to Claressa Shields on a great MMA career.
Good on her for trying it. Her heart was never really in it though, but respect for stepping out of her comfort zone and trying something exceedingly difficult.
A Claressa Shields vs. Cris Cyborg fight is nowhere near close to happening, despite a $2 million dollar offer on the table from Team Cyborg.
The 41-year-old Cyborg has said 2026 is her final year in combat sports, and sheâs doing her best to end her career on some big fights. Thatâs tough because not a lot of name fighters want to step into the cage or ring with her. Ronda Rousey ducked her. Kayla Harrison ducked her. She was never able to secure a rematch with Amanda Nunes. And now in boxing, she canât secure a fight against top name Claressa Shields.
Cyborg went so far as to offer up $2 million of her own money to make a fight happen, but Shields made it clear on a recent appearance on the Ariel Helwani show that Cris is short $8 million dollars and a whole lotta respect.
Rewriting history here she repeatedly refused the immediate rematch with Nunes.
Bizarre that Claressa is turning down an easy 2 million against someone who she would probably claim isnât in her league.
She makes more than that boxing.
Sheâs already fought in the cage so unless she is going to quit boxing and dedicate everything to MMA training it doesnât really make any sense.
Cyborg challenged her to a Boxing match not an MMA fight.
Should be an easy 2 million for her against someone she claims canât box so interesting that she turned it down.
6 months sprawl training no can defend ..
Plus sheâs top of the heap in boxing so why go to mma where she has to learn a new skill set and will likely lose badly at times..?
I gotta admit I was excited for her mma run as womenâs mma needs more fighters like her
Iâm sure if she stuck to only MMA she would have done well. She was white belt level on the ground and beat a brown belt.
She just needed a few more years of hardcore BJJ and wrestling training and it would be interesting.
But it is kind of pointless to continue considering all the money she would lose out on by leaving boxing.
She lacked the core physical strength to do well in mma. I knew after her last fight she realized she wasnt built to grapple.
She is a white belt in BJJ, LOL at determining if she can grapple at that level.
White belts with no grappling experience are newborn babies and are shit on the ground. It doesnât have anything to do with your arbitrary âcore strengthâ assertion whatever that even means.
She needed a few years of constant wrestling and grappling and then we would have had a much better indicator of how she would have done.
What makes you think a Boxer doesnât have good core strength?
From AI
Yes, boxers have exceptionally good core strength, which functions as the central engine for their speed, balance, and punching power. [1, 2, 3, 4]
Why the Core Matters in Boxing
- Power Transfer: The core acts as the vital link in the kinetic chain, transferring explosive force generated by the legs and hips up into the fists. [1]
- Rotational Speed: Twisting the torso generates the torque needed to throw heavy hooks and crosses with a sharp, destructive âsnapâ. [1, 2, 3]
- Impact Absorption: A rigid, conditioned midsection allows fighters to absorb sudden body blows and impacts from opponents without collapsing. [1, 2]
- Defensive Posture: Constant slipping, ducking, and moving require profound deep-core stability to keep the body balanced under pressure. [1, 2]
How Boxers Train Their Core
Rather than just relying on endless old-school sit-ups, modern boxing core training focuses on functional stability and multi-directional force: [1, 2, 3]
Cyborg is a life long PED user so why should anyone agree to fight her. Sheâs basically a man fighting women.
The average boxer definitely has better core strength than any other athlete comparatively just because of the extensive training they do. I think he means functional strength though.
Exactly. She wasnt one of those freaks who could walk right in and beat even the worst of grapplers. The lady who rag dolled her on the ground looked just as clueless, and only had a little more grappling experience than Shields.
Weve seen women from striking sports come in with zero grappling and do just fine against low level mma fighters, because they had a solid base and were good natural athletes and simply overwhelmed their opponents with their physical attributes.
Clarissa reminded me of CM Punk.
I suppose how do you define functional strength in this context?
According to AI core strength from Boxing does transfer to BJJ in some aspects.
- DOES CORE STRENGTH FROM BOXING TRANSFER TO GRAPPLING SPORTS LIKE BJJ?
Yes, a boxerâs core strength transfers well to grappling sports like Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ), but it requires significant adaptation. While boxing core strength is built for explosive, upright rotation, grappling demands isometric endurance and the ability to generate force while lying down. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
What Transfers Well
- Impact Resistance: The ability to brace the abdominal wall prevents internal injuries when an opponent places heavy weight on your chest or stomach.
- Hip Mobility and Torque: Powerful hips and obliques help execute explosive hip escapes (shrimping) and bridges to escape bad positions. [6, 7]
- Posture Control: A strong lower back and core make it harder for an opponent to break down your posture when you are inside their closed guard. [8, 9]
The Missing Gaps in Grappling
- Isometric Endurance: Boxing core strength relies on quick, snappy movements. BJJ requires holding a rigid, tense core position for minutes at a time under constant pressure.
- Flexion Under Load: Boxers rarely fight with a rounded spine. In BJJ, you spend a lot of time âinvertingâ (upside down) or crunching your body forward to guard retain, which requires intense deep abdominal strength at extreme angles. [10, 11, 12, 13]
- Static Tension: Grappling uses âbracingâ while breathing simultaneously under heavy weight, which is a different breathing rhythm than the sharp exhalations used when punching.
Thanks buddie. Thats exactly what i meant.
Two out of her three opponents were brown belts and she beat both of them as a white belt.
Anyone that says they can tell us how she would have done in MMA Iâm sorry has no idea what theyâre talking about.
Sheâs a white belt with very limited training. She needed years of full-time hardcore grappling and wrestling.