Ryan Garcia has gone ballistic on Errol Spence Jr. The American boxer knows the actual reason why the rumors of a split between ‘The Truth’ and his long-time trainer Derrick James have gained traction recently. Not only did he confirm those talks, but he also detailed the reason behind their separation. But it’s Claressa Shields who didn’t shy away from poking fun at the lightweight boxer.

Claressa Shields recently weighed in on a possible boxing bout against Cris Cyborg and doubled down on the women’s MMA legend’s chances should they compete in the ring.

Shields is coming off her hard-fought split decision win over Kelsey DeSantis this past weekend at the historic PFL vs. Bellator event in Saudi Arabia. The women’s boxing champion received some criticism online, especially from Cyborg, who has been open about wanting to fight her in a 147-pound bout.

During her appearance on The MMA Hour, Shields shared her thoughts on Cyborg’s abilities as a boxer and didn’t hold back as she noted that it would be an easy fight for her. She mentioned that she got the better of the reigning Bellator women’s featherweight champion when they sparred in the past, which resulted in them never sparring since.

MMA Fighting posted the 28-year-old’s comments about the Brazilian to their Instagram account, which caught the attention of the MMA and boxing community. Shields then doubled down on the comments she made while speaking to Ariel Helwani as she commented that she was speaking the truth about Cyborg:

“Truth hurts! Cris can’t beat in a boxing match.”

It will be interesting to see whether Shields’ comments will result in the PFL strongly considering a bout between her and Cyborg in either MMA, boxing, or mixed rules in the future.

What did Claressa Shields say about Cris Cyborg?

Claressa Shields recently blasted Cris Cyborg and claimed that the reigning Bellator featherweight champion didn’t want to fight her in a boxing match after she found somebody willing to offer a lucrative payday to make it happen.

During the aforementioned appearance, Shields recounted a sparring session with Cyborg and mentioned that she purposely held back and was still able to have her way with the women’s MMA legend:

“When I sparred against Cris Cyborg in 2018, I took it easy on her…The first and second round, I beat the sh*t outta Cris Cyborg. She cannot box, okay…Cris Cyborg got power in MMA cause you got all different arts you could use. In boxing, Cris Cyborg, she can’t mess with me on the that I’m sick with the flu.”

Boxing champion Claressa Shields has been facing criticism from fellow fighter Cris Cyborg who accused her of struggling to make weight for her MMA fight. The Professional Fighters League (PFL) and Bellator MMA merged for the first time, hosting a combined event called PFL vs. Bellator: Champs, on February 24th. Cyborg’s remarks about Shields in the lead-up to her match as well as post her win further fueled the already-ignited rivalry between the two.

According to Cyborg, the fight against Kelsey DeSantis was initially scheduled as a women’s lightweight bout at 155 lbs, but since Shields failed to make the weight, the fight then had to be pushed to a catchweight of 165 lbs. “Just heard Claressa Shields had to move her fight… because she can’t make the weight limit,” wrote Cyborg on X. This understandably left Shields infuriated who refused to take it lying down.

Claressa Shields claims she weighed in lower than her opponent

Claressa Shields wasted no time addressing Cris Cyborg’s criticism after her recent victory. In a fiery post-fight interview, Shields declared, “I don’t give a damn about Cris Cyborg. She can’t beat me in a fight. She can’t beat me in boxing.“

Furthermore, she accused Cyborg of being upset over her fight with Larissa Pacheco, the PFL champion, falling out. Shields’ frustration was evident as she continued, “But Cris Cyborg is mad because she turned down a fight…because she’s supposed to be fighting here.“

However, her anger didn’t subside from just this. Later on, the undisputed champion took to Twitter to threaten Cyborg with potential legal consequences if she continued making such accusations. She wrote, “I know if @criscyborg you don’t want to get sued you better stop lying Goofy a** bum. I didn’t miss weight you clown ssa b%>€ the fight was at a catch weight 165 & I weighed in at 164.4 lower than my opponent.”

 Shields claimed that the fight was a catchweight and she even weighed lower than her opponent which means there is no substance to the allegations that Cyborg is making against her. That aside, she also shared her gratitude for the victory.

GWOAT claims historic MMA win in Saudi Arabia

Claressa Shields, the boxing champion known for her grit, has added another accomplishment to her career. At 28, she stepped into the MMA ring in Saudi Arabia and emerged victorious in a hard-fought battle.

Shields’ win over Kelsey De Santis came via a close split decision. “I had such a hard camp,” she admitted, reflecting on the experience. She added, “I almost got my arm snapped in the freakin’ armbar. I had to fight out of that.“

The journey wasn’t easy. Shields also revealed the many moments of doubt and struggle. “There was days in camp where I was literally in tears,” she confessed. However, her unwavering spirit propelled her forward.

This win, improving her MMA record to 2-1, stands as a testament to Shields’ determination and her ability to excel in different areas of combat sports. What do you think about Cyborg’s remarks?

The undefeated boxing champion Claressa Shields just made history as an MMA fighter with her latest victory that took place in Saudi Arabia.

After defeating Kelsey De Santis on Feb. 24, Shields became the first champion of a professional MMA bout in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, CNN reports. The win adds to her 14-0 boxing record and improves her 2-1 record as an MMA fighter following her loss against Abigail Montes in October 2021.

“I had such a hard camp,” Shields said of the challenging win. “It’s not easy what I’m trying to do and I’ve been so respectful of the sport. I put a lot of hard work in, I’m going to go back to the gym and work harder.”

It was a tightly contested match with Shields managing to escape an armbar submission attempt by De Santis in the first round. But with some skillful maneuvering, she was able to regain her composure and ultimately secure the victory.

“I almost got my arm snapped in the freakin’ armbar. I had to fight out of that” she said.

Shields put in a lot of work leading up to the bout, which was her first MMA fight in over two years.

“There was days in camp where I was literally in tears,” she shared. “I was not considering going back to the gym because it was so hard but I forced myself to go back and that’s how I got the win tonight.”

Shields’ historical MMA match comes amid a rise in female MMA fighters following the traditionally conservative kingdom’s ease on women residents. In January, Hattan Alsaif became the first Saudi woman to join an international MMA promotion.

As for the Flint, Michigan, native, she remains a confident fighter unwavering in her ability to overcome any match that comes her way. There are talks of Shields competing against Britain’s Savannah Marshall in an MMA bout after already beating her in a world middleweight title boxing match in London in October 2022.

“Savannah needs to understand — and the sooner she understands the better — you can’t beat me in nothing,” Shields told Sky Sports. “The sooner she understands that the better we’ll all be. Just give it up.”

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A tearful Claressa Shields admitted she felt her arm nearly snap in Saturday’s  mixed-martial victory victory in Saudi Arabia.

The undefeated boxer and two-time Olympic gold medalist was moonlighting in the cage once again, where she grinded out a split-decision win over Kelsey DeSantis to improve to 2-1 as an MMA lightweight.

‘I almost got my arm snapped in a freaking armbar,’ Shields said in her post-fight interview. ‘I had to fight out of that.’

Shields, who also battled a severe cramp, became emotional when describing the difficult transition to MMA.

‘It’s not easy what I’m trying to do and I’ve been so respectful of the sport,’ she said. ‘I put a lot of hard work in, I’m going to go back to the gym and work harder.

‘There was days in camp where I was literally in tears,’ she continued. ‘I was not considering going back to the gym because it was so hard but I forced myself to go back and that’s how I got the win tonight.’

The fight was part of the PFL vs. Bellator event in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, where Renan Ferreira beat Ryan Bader with a first-round TKO in the main event.

While Shields is still improving as an MMA fighter, boxing’s premiere female fighter should have plenty of options in both sports going forward.

There’s even a chance she could have a rematch with Savannah Marshall, whom she beat in the boxing ring in 2022. The pair could conceivably have an MMA bout next.

‘Savannah needs to understand – and the sooner she understands the better – you can’t beat me in nothing,’ Shields told Sky Sports. ‘The sooner she understands that the better we’ll all be. Just give it up.

‘We can fight boxing, I’m going to win. We can fight MMA, I’m going to win. We can streetfight, I’m going to win. It doesn’t matter. We can play ping pong, I’m going to win.’

Shields has been critical of boxing, calling the sport sexist and pointing to some six- and seven-figure paydays for women in MMA.

‘Kayla [Harrison], I watch all her fights,’ Shields said on social media in 2020. ‘She had a chance to fight for a million dollars [in MMA] before I had a chance to fight for a million dollars in boxing and I’ve accomplished everything there is to accomplish in boxing.’

When Terence Crawford beat Errol Spence Jr. in July last year, Claressa Shields congratulated ‘Bud’ in the locker room. After Shields called Crawford the pound-for-pound no. 1 and boasted that ‘Bud’ became a two-time undisputed champ, the latter reminded the world that Shields was also a two-time undisputed champion in the sport. This time around, as Shields successfully returned to PFl, ‘Bud’ celebrated the victory on social media.

While Crawford did not witness Shields’ fight live, he was proud of ‘T-Rex’. Therefore, ‘Bud’ shared a post by Shields and publicly reiterated that ‘T-Rex’ overcame significant difficulties in her latest fight.

Terence Crawford praises Claressa Shields for fighting through “adversity”

Despite being the crowd favorite in her return to PFL, Claressa Shields struggled against Kelsey DeSantis, an opponent seven years older than ‘T-Rex’. Since Shields would have preferred boxing, Kelsey DeSantis strategically took the former down in their fight. At one point, the 35-year-old almost made Claressa tap with an armbar. As ‘T-Rex’ herself recounted after the fight, she almost got her arm “snapped”. However, Shields overcame the difficulties to win the contest via SD, leaving ‘Bud’ Crawford impressed.

On that note, Terence Crawford took to Instagram Stories and shared a post by Shields. “GWOAT!!!!” reiterated ‘Bud’. Meanwhile, Claressa Shields admitted that she could not do “everything right” against DeSantis. However, the 28-year-old argued that she did sufficient to win the match. In her opinion, by landing the more effective punches, Claressa Shields fought through “adversity“. Finally, Shields concluded that she would grow and return as an improved mixed martial artist.

Shields cried during camp

Anyway, following the victory against Kelsey DeSantis, Claressa Shields made several posts, celebrating her latest win. However, speaking to Karis McKee, Shields declared she was indebted to her coach and team. “From September to now, it has been nothing but hell. I’m gonna post this video on YouTube, you will be like, ‘Oh my God, Claressa’s crying.’ There were days in camp when I was so frustrated that I would burst into tears,” said Shields.

In addition, Shields declared that the victory meant a lot to her since she had to fight depression before preparing for DeSantis. Likewise, in another post of hers on Instagram, Claressa implied she was a “beast“. In another, Shields proudly declared that she “conquered” DeSantis. In doing so, she thanked her coach Joaquin Murcielago, and God.

Well, what do you think of Terence Crawford’s reaction to Shields’ victory? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below. For more boxing updates, follow EssentiallySports!