Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

Claressa Shields recalls beating Cris Cyborg in sparring as they continue their recent feud. 

Both fighters have conquered their respective sports, but the respect between the two has declined somewhat. Shields is the current undisputed middleweight boxing champion who has rejoined the PFL. She is coming off a split-decision win against Kelsey DeSantis. Shields took part on the PFL vs Bellator: Champs card in the 165-catchweight bout. Despite winning, Cyborg was not impressed by what she had seen. 

“Even at 165lbs I might be able to win that fight without throwing a single punch. GWOAT,” Cyborg said

Shields hit back with very strong words. 

“I don’t give a damn Cris Cyborg! She can’t beat me in fight…she’s just mad she turned down a fight with Larissa Pacheco,” Shields stated

Cyborg is one of the best female MMA fighters that ever existed. She is the only Grand Slam Champion in MMA. She has won belts in Strikeforce, Invicta FC, UFC, and Bellator. But when it came to boxing, Shields recalled getting the better of her.

Shields On Cyborg

“Look, I’ll be honest with you, when I sparred against Cris Cyborg in 2018, I took it easy on her. I let her and her team doctor up a video to make it look close, but the first and second round, I beat the s*** out of Cris Cyborg. She cannot box, OK? And then we were supposed to work together more, but after I beat her in sparring, she didn’t want to spar no more.

“But I told her, ‘If you ever need me in your camp for boxing, let me know, because I’ll still come and help you. We don’t [have to] spar.’ She never called me. So for her to be saying she’ll knock me out at 147 [pounds], and power this and power that — Cris Cyborg has power in MMA because you have all those different arts you can use. In boxing, Cris Cyborg can’t mess with me on a day that I’m sick with the flu,” Shield stated 

Will A Fight Happen?

Those comments are expected, given how MMA fighters and boxers would perform in their opposite sport. However, Cyborg is showing a serious intention to conquer boxing. Her current record stands at 3-0. Her latest boxing bout occurred last month when she stopped Kelsey Wickstrum in a first-round knockout. If Shields continues to perform in MMA, there is a narrative in place to have a boxing and MMA bout.

“A guy had some money for me and Cris Cyborg to fight — he was speaking of a fight as big as Tyson Fury vs. Francis Ngannou. I said I got the perfect person, I said Cris Cyborg, Amanda Nunes. So I thought about Cris and she was my friend. I hit her up, ‘I got money for us.’ I’m like, ‘Let’s make it happen,’ she’s all like, ‘Oh, thanks for hitting me up, of course I’ll get back with you.’

““All of a sudden — the money is right, everything is good — she’s crying about the weight class. I already told [her] what weight class the fight was gonna be at, 154 [pounds]. Why are you trying to get me to come to 147? Then after that, she talking about she had knocked me out at 147. She was doing this [and that],” Shields added

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