Boxing champion Claressa Shields has unleashed a scathing response to Cris Cyborg’s recent callouts, dismissing the MMA veteran’s relevance while asserting her dominance in pure striking exchanges. Speaking on the Pound 4 Pound podcast with Kamaru Usman and Henry Cejudo, Shields didn’t mince words about the potential matchup.
“Ain’t nobody paying attention to Cris Cyborg no more, she’s old and I’m new, I’m popping off right now and she’s a hater,” Shields declared. “She’s talking about she wants to fight me, well b**** come do it, come fight me. I don’t understand what we’re waiting on. You said that you would knock me out if we wore eight oz gloves at 154lbs, I don’t give a damn if we wore four oz gloves, imma sleep Cris Cyborg’s a** because she cannot fight.”
The undisputed boxing champion made it clear, however, that any bout between the two would need to take place in the boxing ring rather than the MMA cage. Shields acknowledged the vast difference in grappling experience between herself and Cyborg.
“I’m not going to fight Chris Cyborg in MMA. Why? She got too much experience and I don’t have enough time to learn it,” Shields explained. “If I was better on the ground, if I was better you know, but I just don’t have the time to do that stuff. I have trained maybe a year full-time doing MMA like Jiu-Jitsu and all that stuff.”
Shields broke down the fundamental differences between the two combat sports, emphasizing why a boxing match would create a more level playing field. “Boxing is a more fair sport. How is it more fair? You got your left and your right. MMA she got her left, her right, her elbows, her knees, her kicks, the ground game, all her experience in MMA versus me who I’ve only been doing MMA what a year and a half, two years.”
The Olympic gold medalist isn’t interested in waiting around either. With her upcoming heavyweight championship bout scheduled for February 2nd in Flint, Michigan, where she’ll compete at 175 pounds for the undisputed title, Shields provocatively suggested she could face Cyborg the very next day.
“I fight February 2nd in Flint Michigan up at heavyweight up at 175 for the Undisputed championship and then guess what she can get her ass kicked February 3rd the next day,” Shields proclaimed. “She say she can whoop some ass so she need to whoop some ass with the gloves on.”
This heated exchange comes at an interesting time in Shields’ career, as she’s simultaneously preparing for her heavyweight title while her biopic “The Fire Inside” heads to theaters this Christmas, starring Ryan Destiny. The film chronicles Shields’ journey from being the only girl in her Flint, Michigan gym at age 11 to becoming a two-time Olympic gold medalist and multiple-division world champion.
Whether this war of words leads to an actual boutremains to be seen, but Shields’ message to Cyborg is crystal clear – step into the boxing ring or step aside.
