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CLARESSA SHIELDS RETURNED to JacksonWink MMA in Albuquerque, New Mexico, in late March, recent off making boxing historical past by changing into the primary two-division undisputed champion within the four-belt period.
Time was working low, although, with Shields scheduled to make her MMA debut within the Skilled Fighters League on June 10. The one technique to get one of many world’s greatest feminine boxers prepared for her first journey into the cage was to throw her into the deep finish of the MMA pool to see if she would sink or swim.
In early April, Shields participated in her first blended martial arts sparring session. She admitted she was “afraid” of it.
“In fact, combating on the bottom [was scary],” Shields instructed ESPN. “Not figuring out the way to get again up. Not figuring out the way to maintain someone from grabbing me or not having the ability to cease someone from taking me down. Armbars and all of that form of stuff.”
The purpose for Shields in that sparring match with teammate Kayla Yontef was to remain standing so long as doable. Shields mentioned Yontef took her down 15 to twenty instances throughout that session. Such is the steep studying curve for a world-class fighter who actually solely began wrestling, grappling and throwing kicks when she arrived at JacksonWink MMA in early December.
Shields, a two-time Olympic gold medalist in boxing and a three-division boxing champion, mentioned she feels far more comfy on the bottom now as in comparison with 10 weeks in the past. However her technique when she makes her MMA debut in opposition to Brittney Elkin, a brown belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu who has gained grappling titles, is not going to be an enormous thriller.
“The sport plan is to remain the f— away from the cage,” Shields mentioned. “That is it. Keep within the middle.”
Shields’ coaches indicated she has improved dramatically — as quick as they’ve ever seen — forward of her debut within the cage on Thursday in Atlantic Metropolis, New Jersey. Greg Jackson and Mike Winkeljohn, two of the highest coaches in MMA historical past, not solely imagine Shields will do nicely as a newbie, they assume she has an opportunity to be an all-time nice within the sport if she continues to work at it. However it is going to take plenty of work.
Step one towards that mountain of potentialities might be on Thursday.
SHIELDS AND UFC legend Jon Jones had been mates for a number of years — by means of social media interactions and seeing one another at fights — once they caught up on the ESPYS in the summertime of 2018. Jones instructed Shields that if she ever needed to strive MMA, there could be a house for her along with his crew, JacksonWink MMA.
“I assumed he was loopy,” Shields mentioned. “I am not even fascinated with doing MMA; I do not know why you are providing me that.”
Her perspective modified dramatically over the course of the pandemic. Shields mentioned being caught in quarantine made her notice she needed to make some modifications in her life and profession. The Flint, Michigan, native mentioned she began to really feel like she had executed nearly all the things she needed to perform in boxing, and regardless of her accolades, she wasn’t getting paid as a lot as male boxers. Shields mentioned probably the most she created from a boxing combat was $350,000.
“I simply obtained bored with it, as a result of I used to be placing in a lot onerous work and a lot time within the gymnasium — placing in all this difficult work to be dominant,” Shields mentioned. “Placing in all this difficult work to win. And it was identical to, what’s my reward? The place’s my endorsement offers? The place’s my sponsorships? The place’s my million-dollar payday? The place’s the pay-per-views? I wasn’t getting these alternatives.”
Late in 2020, Shields’ supervisor, Mark Taffet, opened discussions with the PFL about Shields doing MMA. The 2021 PFL season includes a ladies’s light-weight division for the second time, with the winner taking residence $1 million after combating by means of an everyday season and a four-woman playoff bracket.
That turned the purpose. However Shields needed to begin sluggish, studying little by little and combating opponents close to her expertise degree in MMA early on. That is why, not less than for her first season of motion within the PFL, Shields might be competing in showcase fights and never as a part of the $1 million competitors.
She’ll additionally proceed to pursue boxing, not less than in the meanwhile, and it will likely be a balancing act. Along with two scheduled fights within the PFL, Shields intends to take a boxing combat towards the tip of 2021. There are nonetheless three or 4 opponents that Shields desires to defend her titles in opposition to within the sport that made her well-known, however a major chunk of her consideration might be turned elsewhere.
“I am actually extra simply targeted on MMA proper now,” Shields mentioned.
A FIGHTER WITH a résumé just like the one Shields carries has the sort following and identify recognition to e-book a profitable combat that might far exceed her expertise degree — in opposition to MMA legends akin to Amanda Nunes within the UFC or Cris Cyborg in Bellator. However Shields is severe about MMA as a profession, and he or she wasn’t occupied with merely cashing in on any form of one-off occasion.
“All people is aware of I need to combat one of the best, however I am going to combat one of the best once I’m one of the best in MMA,” Shields mentioned. “I do not need to be taken benefit of and issues of that nature. So, I need to get my coaching in and combat an opponent that is equal to me in MMA. After which form of construct my manner up from there.”
The choice to dive headfirst into MMA and dedicate herself to doing it the best manner was crystallized when Shields took Jones up on his provide and flew all the way down to Albuquerque in December to see if she preferred the atmosphere. She did, and he or she spent a number of weeks there earlier than returning residence to Michigan to organize for her boxing title unification combat in opposition to Marie-Eve Dicaire.
When Shields returned to JacksonWink, slightly than securing fancy lodging, she moved into the dorms adjoining to the gymnasium. She has an opulent three-bedroom residence with a full boxing gymnasium in her basement in Michigan, however Shields needed a spot in Albuquerque with no frills and easy accessibility to the gymnasium.
Shields mentioned she generally trains 5 instances a day. The dorms, she mentioned, remind her of the Olympic coaching middle in Colorado, the place she lived for 2 years throughout her beginner days.
“I form of simply needed to really feel like I am working my manner up from the underside, regardless that I am not fully on the backside,” Shields mentioned.
WHEN SHIELDS ARRIVED in Albuquerque, she did not even notice former UFC ladies’s bantamweight champion Holly Holm educated at JacksonWink. All Shields knew was what Jones had instructed her and the prominence of coaches Jackson and Winkeljohn. Holm was one of many high feminine boxers on this planet earlier than changing into a standout in MMA, one of many best to have ever made that transition.
Since Shields’ arrival, Jones and Holm have develop into vital assets for Shields to faucet into. Shields mentioned she has sparred with Holm about 5 or 6 instances, and Holm has shared her data. Winkeljohn mentioned Shields has had a good tougher studying curve than Holm, as a result of Holm was already an completed kickboxer previous to her enterprise into MMA — one other aspect of MMA that Shields did not should account for in a conventional boxing ring.
However Winkeljohn noticed one thing in Shields immediately. He mentioned regardless that Shields was in over her head on the bottom initially, she by no means give up. She stored combating and making an attempt to mount an offense.
“She did not know what she was doing, however she had that fighter perspective,” Winkeljohn mentioned. “I like that about her.”
THE EFFORT TO get Shields able to step into the cage is twofold, separating the helpful components of Shields’ boxing expertise from what will not work in MMA. On the toes, Winkeljohn mentioned he has labored with Shields on not relying too closely on the “Philly shell” or “shoulder roll” defensive approach utilized in boxing (maintaining her left hand down). It is too harmful in MMA and leaves too many potential openings for opponents, Winkeljohn mentioned. Jackson is the one tasked with turning the elite boxer right into a fighter competent in wrestling, the clinch and the grappling sport.
Past the X’s and O’s, Jackson mentioned that Shields has one thing he calls the “Claressa laptop,” an innate capacity to make changes on the fly throughout a combat and even throughout a sequence. Jones, one of many biggest MMA fighters to ever reside, has it, Jackson mentioned, however “it is not widespread in any respect.”
That capacity has helped Shields tremendously as she tries to ingest and course of a staggering quantity of knowledge and approach — after which put all of it collectively for the primary time in her professional debut. And whereas most debuts are likely to happen outdoors the highlight on a regional degree, Shields’ first MMA combat would be the PFL’s predominant occasion throughout its broadcast on ESPN.
“Definitely, that is the quickest I’ve ever seen anyone modify to [those new skills],” Jackson mentioned.
“I might like all people to know simply how courageous it’s what she’s doing. She had zero kickboxing, zero floor. Nothing. Simply leaping in on an enormous stage in entrance of tens of millions. It is unprecedented braveness, for my part.”
So what’s the ceiling for somebody who’s getting higher this rapidly and has the smarts, the bodily abilities and a fight sports activities background? There is not a lot of 1, Jackson mentioned.
“All the best way to the highest, there is not any doubt,” he mentioned.
AFTER GETTING TAKEN down greater than a dozen instances in her first sparring periods, Shields mentioned two weeks in the past she was solely getting taken down about twice per session. Jackson mentioned Shields had an epiphany in current weeks, after she obtained taken down and her first approach to attempt to get again up failed. Shields caught with it, went by means of her reads and obtained up on her third approach.
“The sunshine bulb was beginning to come on, and that was actually cool to see,” Jackson mentioned.
Definitely, Shields does not even need to find yourself on the mat. She is an elite boxer with energy in her arms, that are positive to be much more harmful in 4-ounce gloves, as in comparison with the 8-ounce or 10-ounce gloves she makes use of in boxing. Shields mentioned she loves being on offense and needs to be like an even bigger model of former UFC ladies’s strawweight champion Joanna Jedrzejczyk, mixing in a quantity of kicks, knees and elbows together with her punches.
“It is enjoyable,” Shields mentioned of MMA. “However like I mentioned, it is very difficult. It is not meant for everyone. You actually should be somebody who loves combating. You get kicked within the abdomen and a few individuals are like, ‘Oh, that s— hurts.’
“To me, it is like, ‘Yeah, it hurts, however I am gonna get my lick again. I am gonna kick her again within the abdomen. I am gonna kick her head. I am gonna punch her onerous within the abdomen.’ You’ve got gotta have that sure mentality for MMA.”
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