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Claressa Shields

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Claressa Shields Overcomes Early Adversity, Shines in MMA Debut

PFL 4 2021

PFL 4 (2021 Season) took place on Thursday night and featured the highly anticipated debut of former two-time Olympic gold medalist and world champion boxer Claressa Shields. Shields’ move to MMA has been highly anticipated by fans for the past few years, so it would be remarkably interesting to see how she performed. Shields has been training for the past six months at the well-known Jackson Wink MMA Academy. Before we get into the main event, let us look at the rest of the card. 


Lightweight: Clay Collard def. Joilton Lutterbach

Split Decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)

Featherweight:  Bubba Jenkins def. Bobby Moffett 

Decision Unanimous (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)

Featherweight: Brendan Loughnane def. Tyler Diamond 

Decision Majority (30-27, 29-27, 28-28)


Women’s Lightweight: Claressa Shields vs. Brittney Elkin

The main event of the evening took place between boxing superstar Claressa Shields and Brittney Elkin. Early in the first round, Elkin kept Shields at bay and utilized a high guard while she threw front kicks towards the head of Shields. Shields attempted to close the distance with a few overhand rights that did not land. Early on, Elkin was able to gain the takedown, and this is where most of the first round took place. Shields’s strength was evident as she briefly gained control over the much more experienced grappler. However, the first round was largely dominated by the grappling of Elkin. 

The second round started saw much of the same action. Shields was able to land some strikes on the feet early on but was ultimately put back down to the canvas. This round again was mostly dominated by the control of Elkin. Elkin was able to control Shields on the ground but was unable to get off any offense that did any significant damage. Towards the end of round two, Shields was able to gain top position and land some good punches on the ground to finish the round strong. 

When round three began, Shields appeared to be the much fresher fighter. Elkin shot for takedowns once again, but Shields was able to utilize a strong sprawl and gain the top position. Once in a dominant position, Shields rained down powerful ground and pound and was able to finish the fight at 1:44 in Round 3. 

It will be interesting to see where Shields goes from here. While she did win her debut fight in MMA and is an incredible athlete, Elkin is not the highest-level fighter available and still showed some holes that Shields will need to work to improve. Her size and strength will be an advantage for her moving forward. There are not many fighters available at Women’s lightweight, so it also will be interesting to see who the PFL books her to fight against next. 

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