Claressa Shields says she’s closer to ‘GWOAT’ status than Amanda Nunes because she competes in boxing and MMA
It may seem like UFC women’s bantamweight and featherweight champion Amanda Nunes is running out of competition to face during her 12-fight winning streak, but there is some competition for her legendary place in combat sports. Nunes once again successfully defended her featherweight title this past weekend at UFC 259 when she secured a first-round submission victory over Megan Anderson and while she was adding to her resume, so was a world-champion female boxer, Claressa Shields.
Shields was also victorious this past weekend, defeating Marie-Eve Dicaire to retain her WBC and WBO super welterweight titles, while also grabbing the vacant WBA light middleweight title, and the IBF 154-pound title. With those titles captured, Shields became the first world champion boxer to hold undisputed titles in two separate weight classes, compared to what Nunes has done in the UFC.
However, when it comes to the title of ‘GWOAT’ (Greatest Woman Of All-Time) in combat sports, Shields believes she is closer to cementing her status as GWOAT compared to Nunes, because Shields is competing in both boxing and MMA, while Nunes is just competing in MMA. During an appearance on ‘The Ak & Barak Show‘ on Sirius XM’s Fight Nation channel, Shields gave her reasoning as to why she’s closer than Nunes.
🎙️"Right now, I'm ahead of the game when you talk about that." — @Claressashields explains why she's closer than Amanda Nunes is to "GWOAT status"🔊@DAZNBoxing @MMAonSiriusXM @BoxingwithAk @TheBoxingBully @jrgoldsticker #ShieldsDiCaire
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— SiriusXM Boxing (@SiriusXMBoxing) March 8, 2021
“If people can’t say that I’m the greatest woman of all-time because I just box, they can’t say she’s that she’s the greatest woman of all-time if she just does MMA. You gotta be able to do both because boxing and MMA are both combat sports. Right now, I’m ahead of the game when you talk about that, because I have my first MMA match June 10th.”
In 2020, Shields signed a three-year deal to compete in the Professional Fighters League, and as she mentioned, she is booked for her first MMA fight on June 10th. Since she began to focus on her MMA career, Shields has trained at JacksonWink in Albuquerque, New Mexico alongside the likes of former UFC champions, Holly Holm and Jon Jones.
Claressa Shields is also a training partner and friend of former UFC featherweight champion Cris Cyborg, who Nunes defeated back in 2018, and Shields believes if the current two-weight champion came over to boxing, she wouldn’t stand a chance against her.
“But when it comes to being the greatest woman of all time, you gotta be able to do both. And that’s what I’ve come up with. But Amanda Nunes could do nothing with me in a boxing match. But the thing is, I’ll be able too do something with her, in the MMA cage, just in about two, two and a half years because I’m learning everything so fast. You may see me and her fighting against each other because I’m only 25, and I’ll be 28 in three years, I won’t be 40.”
Right now it seems extremely difficult to find a challenge for Nunes inside the UFC Octagon, but if Claressa Shields sticks to her plan, she could be a future opponent for the two-weight champion, with the status of ‘GWOAT’ on the line as well.
