How Amanda Nunes Fired Up Claressa Shields for MMA Move – “I’d Destroy Her. Stop Playing with Me”
The GWOAT of women’s boxing recently opened up about her transition to mixed martial arts at the role Amanda Nunes played in her decision.
Hailing from Flint, Michigan, Claressa Shields is considered by many to be the best female boxer of all time. One quick look at her resume, and you’ll quickly understand why. Aside from holding multiple world championships across five different weight classes, Shields 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.
After dominating her competition inside the squared circle, Shields turned her attention to the Smart Cage, signing with the Professional Fighters League and making her promotional debut in June 2021.
Though she struggled in the early going, Shields ultimately won her bout against Brittney Elkin via a third-round TKO after Elkin gassed out. Overall, she is 2-1 in the PFL, adding a split-decision loss to Abigail Montes followed by a split-decision win over Kelsey DeSantis.
Shields isn’t afraid to fight Amanda Nunes
During an interview with P4P great Andre Ward, Shields revealed that some harsh words from former two-division UFC champion Amanda Nunes are what convinced her to trade in her eight-ounce gloves for a pair of four-ouncers.
“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.”
Though Shields has dove headfirst into the world of MMA, she is far from done in boxing. Five months after her win over DeSantis at PFL vs. Bellator in Saudi Arabia, she went on to capture the WBC and WBF female heavyweight titles via a second-round knockout of Vanessa Lepage-Joanisse.
