Coming into her debut, a lot of fighters commended boxing champion Claressa Shields for trying out MMA. Many consider Shields as one of the best female boxers of all time that it would take huge risk fighting a sport that is new to her.
For those not aware, Shields is a two time Olympic gold medalist with an undefeated record in pro boxing. With only 11 boxing fights in his record, she seems to have achieve a lot in the sport of boxing. She became the undisputed female light middleweight, the undisputed female middleweight and the unified WBC and IBF female super middleweight. A great resume to have.
Even if she hangs up the gloves in just 11 fights, she could already be in the argument as the greatest female boxer of all time. That is how great Shield’s legacy right now, but due to wanting more challenges she decided to transition to MMA.
Now she just debuted in PFL and faced Brittney Elkin. She was coming in as the favorite but it did not happen as she wanted. Shields faced major adversity, in the first and second round. Once she got taken down, she had no answer but his stand up striking was clearly superior.
On the third round, her opponent Elkin was gassed and once she shot for the takedown it was the beginning of the end. Shields showed she had championship heart and her endurance was world class. Shields stopped the takedown then got on a top position. She then throwed bombs that forced the referee to stop the fight.
Shields may have won the fight but she still has a lot of work to do especially her takedown defense. Her opponents will fear his boxing so they will obviously look to grapple more. If Shields works on her takedown defense, we might see a dangerous fighter.
