Claressa Shields is willing to fight Amanda Nunes twice – once in each of their sports.
Ahead of her upcoming boxing match against Savannah Marshall on Sept. 10, Shields was asked about a potential fight with UFC dual-champion Nunes and she was all for it.
But Shields reminded everyone that she’s merely responding to Nunes’ callout. Prior to avenging her loss to Julianna Peña at UFC 277 last month, Nunes told DAZN that boxing Shields would be the biggest fight, and Shields is open to both a boxing match and an MMA fight.
“Amanda Nunes said a week before her fight she wanted to fight me in the ring,” Shields told MMA Junkie and other reporters. “So it wasn’t just me poking the bear, the bear poked me. So Amanda Nunes said she wanted to fight against me, and that would be one of the biggest fights in women’s boxing as far as in crossovers, and I agree with it. I would love for us to box inside the ring. And like I’ve said before, I will get inside the cage with Amanda Nunes, but it would be in two years.”
Holding multiple world championships in three weight classes in boxing, Shields has only competed twice in MMA, both under the PFL banner. She stopped Brittney Elkin in her pro MMA debut, but lost a split decision to Abigail Montes last October and understands that she needs a lot more time before being able to compete with Nunes in the cage.