Championship Boxer Officially Closes the Door on MMA

Claressa Shields Returning to Squared Circle

The world class professional boxer with a phenomenal record of 16-0 and three knockout wins told Helwani about her MMA experience: “It was fun, but I don’t have time to train for it.”

Claressa Shields confessed to needing six to eight months just to get ready to defend takedowns and also mentioned she broke her arm twice in her time trying to establish herself as a two-sport superstar.

The PFL promoted three cage fights featuring Claressa Shields, who is the only boxer in history, female or male, to hold all four major world titles in professional boxing (WBA, WBC, IBF and WBO) in three weight classes. She also won two Olympic gold medals in the middleweight division (2012 and 2016) in a decorated amateur career.

Looking Back on Claressa Shields’ Brief Stint in MMA

Her tentative MMA career did not look anywhere near as promising as her boxing future did, as she had some difficulty adjusting to the wrestling and jiu jitsu aspects of mixed martial arts. She still managed to compile one knockout win against Brittney Elkin on June 10, 2021 in her debut, one decision win against Kelsey on Feb. 24, 2024, and her only decision loss in the PFL SmartCage on Oct. 27, 2021.

The lone loss saw her facing great difficulty escaping takedowns and getting back to her feet after getting taken down repeatedly by Abigail Montes (1-1 at the time of the fight). Shields still maintains she enjoyed every fight but admitted her family “never wanted me to do it.” The reason she did it anyway was simply to prove a point, which she now feels she did.

Rap Artist Papoose Convinces Claressa Shields to Give MMA Up

Another factor in her decision to forego a fourth cage fight in the PFL was her budding relationship with Shamele Mackie, otherwise known as Papoose in rap music circles. Shields told Helwani that Papoose said to her, “I cannot handle MMA.”

She also told Helwani that Papoose outright asked her, “Can you please just not do that anymore?” She also came to the conclusion that there was simply “not enough time” for her to get to world championship level in the cage, which she once hoped to attain.

“I was great already in boxing, and to be great like that in MMA, I would have to train at least three, four years consistently,” she admitted. “It was too hard.”

Claressa Shields told Helwani her boyfriend also has trouble with her competing in boxing, even when she’s dominating. She’s only fought twice in the boxing ring since that final PFL fight. First, she captured three World Heavyweight titles (WBC, WBF and WBO) on July 27, 2024 with a second-round knockout of the then-undefeated Vanessa Lepage-Joanisse (15-0 at the time).

Then, she added the WBO belt to her trophy case and retained all her other heavyweight titles with another dominant unanimous decision win over 16-0 Danielle Perkins on Feb. 2 in her hometown of Flint, MI.

Claressa Shields shows no signs of going back to middleweight in her pugilistic endeavors now. Her next fight will stay close to home as she faces Lani Daniels (11-2-2, 1 KO) in Detroit on July 26. She will be fighting to retain her Undisputed World Heavyweight Champion status against the New Zealand-based Daniels.

Shields, the self-anointed “Greatest Woman of All Time,” recently faced a spot of controversy when she reportedly tested positive for trace amounts of Marijuana in connection with the Perkins fight. Though the alleged offense threatened to temporarily derail her career with a formal suspension, the entire matter was eventually discovered to be a huge mistake.

Claressa Shields’ Career Immortalized in MGM Release

Shields also achieved some more positive notoriety on the silver screen last winter with the theatrical release of a movie about her life in December of 2024.

The Fire Inside from MGM portrayed Claressa Shields in her early career and unfortunately wound up grossing a few million dollars less than it actually cost to produce. The biopic stars Ryan Destiny as Shields and is currently available on multiple streaming services.