Undefeated World champion boxer and two-time Olympic gold medalist Claressa Shields will be making her much anticipated mixed martial arts debut against Brittney Elkin on the Professional Fighters League event PFL 4 on June 10 at the Ocean Resort and Casino in Atlantic City, New Jersey on ESPN 2.
Claressa Shields calls herself the GWOAT which stands for Greatest Woman of All Time, and she is always up for new challenges and feels at the age of 26 and already accomplishing amazing feats in the sport of boxing she wants to compete in the world of mixed martial arts.
Shields who trains at the famous Jackson-Wink MMA gym in Albuquerque, New Mexico lived a Spartan life for this training camp, living in the gym and focusing on whatever her coaches taught her. She also gained motivation by being around UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones and former boxing world champion and UFC champion Holly Holm.
Part of the reason for Shields jump to MMA is due to the fact she feels boxing doesn’t give female fighters enough attention or financial compensation compared to MMA.
Shields stated that she put her heart and soul into boxing but felt the sport needs to appreciate the women and promote them better so they can earn more money so they are financially secure.
In MMA females are known and at the level of their male counterparts, with the likes of Ronda Rousey, Amanda Nunes, and others making more money than champion level female boxers and headline MMA events.
Holly Holm who trains at Jackson-Wink was also an accomplished female boxing champion but jumped to MMA for similar reasons as Shields, Holm and her manager tried to get her on undercards for big fighters like Oscar De La Hoya and Floyd Mayweather Jr. but the promoters didn’t bother, so she made the transition into mixed martial arts and once she joined the UFC she made more as an MMA fighter than a boxer and became a world champion in both sports.
Shields will join Amanda Serrano as an active top level boxing champion who is also competing in MMA.
Main Card (ESPN 2 TV)
Women’s Lightweight Main Event – Claressa Shields (MMA debut) vs. Brittney Elkin
Lightweight – Clay Collard vs. Joilton Lutterbach
Featherweight – Bubba Jenkins vs. Bobby Moffett
Featherweight – Brendan Loughnane vs. Tyler Diamond
Preliminary Undercard (ESPN+ Live Stream)
Lightweight – Natan Schulte vs. Alexander Martinez
Lightweight – Marcin Held vs. Olivier Aubin-Mercier
Lightweight – Akhmet Aliev vs. Loik Radzhabov
Featherweight – Sheymon Moraes vs. Jesse Stirn
Featherweight – Chris Wade vs. Arman Ospanov
PFL 4 prelim undercards will air live at 7:00 PM ET/PT and the Main Card will be televised on ESPN 2 at 10:00 PM ET/PT on Thursday, June 10, 2021.
