Editor’s note: This article was originally posted on MMAJunkie.com.
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Claressa Shields will make her MMA debut next year, but she won’t completely transition away from boxing.
Shields, the undisputed women’s middleweight champion and two-time Olympic gold medalist, has signed a deal with PFL, but she won’t be a part of the 2021 season. Instead, Shields will take one-off fights at lightweight while also boxing next year, too.
“I’m still gonna box and do MMA at the same time,” Shields told PFL broadcast partner ESPN. “I could box in my sleep. That’s not something that I really have to worry about. I’m gonna spend a lot of time learning and just growing in MMA, but I’m still gonna accept my mandatory challenges in boxing.
“I’m gonna fight those girls, I’m gonna beat them, but I plan on having maybe two or three boxing matches and two to three MMA fights next year.”
Shields has dominated the boxing world, putting together a 10-0 professional record after going 77-1 as an amateur. Shields is one of only seven boxers in history – male or female – to hold IBF, WBA, WBC and WBO world championships at the same time.
While she still plans on boxing, Shields explained that the perks of MMA include the equal opportunity in pay for women and men. Specifically in the PFL, both get the chance to compete for $1 million.
“I feel like I’ve had fights in boxing that have captured the sports world, just women’s boxing isn’t treated equally,” Shields said. “Every MMA league, they have women fighters main event. The PFL give women a chance to fight for a million dollars just like they give men a chance to fight in a league for a million dollars. In boxing, there aren’t those kind of opportunities for women.
“You have two or three of us that are getting paid good money, and then the rest of them are kind of just like opponents, and they don’t really have a large following and a big backing. In MMA, in the PFL, you create your own destiny, and that’s what I want to do. I created my own destiny in boxing and as far as in becoming a two-time Olympic champ, starting from the Junior Olympics to the real Olympics, world championships and now being a professional world champion. I just wanna test myself really.”
Naturally, Shields’ signing with the PFL has already sparked up talks of a potential future fight with fellow two-time Olympic gold medalist and 2019 PFL champ Kayla Harrison.
Shields understands that she has some work to do before a fight of that magnitude, and she absolutely plans on getting there.
“Just me being who I am, of course I want to fight the best,” Shields said. “Right now, she’s the best. She’s the winner of the PFL league. She won the million dollars, and I was able to watch all of her fights leading up to that not because I was getting ready to come to the PFL, but because I’m a fan of hers and we’re actually friends. We’ve been at both Olympics together. We know each other.
“I actually texted her this morning, so of course that’s who I’m looking at down the line, but then again like I said, the PFL, you create your own destiny. Anything can happen on any given night so we can be in a tournament in 2022 or 2023 and be fighting, and she loses. It’s like anything can happen, so I’m just gonna take it one fight at a time. I’m not initially thinking of Kayla Harrison right off the bat, but she will be in my thoughts towards the end of 2021.”
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