Claressa Shields claims she nearly brought Cris Cyborg to tears during a sparring session between the two.
Boxing’s undisputed GWOAT and the GOAT of women’s mixed martial arts went toe-to-toe behind closed doors all the way back in 2018. Some of the footage of their sparring session was released online, but according to Shields, the video was carefully edited to make it look like Cyborg was more than holding her own against the ‘T-Rex.’
As Shields tells it, she hopped off a plane, jumped in the ring, and absolutely embarrassed the multi-time MMA world champion. So much so that the Brazilian was nearly in tears.
“I beat her up in sparring, you know that, right? I did it getting jetlagged off a plane,” Shields said in an in-studio interview with Ariel Helwani. “I flew from Michigan, had just had a fight, and then I flew to LA and sparred against Cris Cyborg.
“We were supposed to go six rounds. I only kicked her ass for four, and she was about to cry, so we didn’t do the last two. That’s the real deal. She was jealous, she was envious, and she was plotting from then.
Claressa shields accuses Cyborg of fighting ‘bums’ throughout her career
Outside of a loss in her professional MMA debut and a defeat to Amanda Nunes 13 years later, Cris Cyborg has remained perfect, winning gold in just about every major mixed martial arts organization on the planet, including Invicta FC, Strikeforce, UFC, Bellator, and the PFL.
More recently, Cyborg has been testing her skills in boxing. Thus far, she’s a perfect 4-0, not including exhibition bouts, with all of those victories coming by way of knockout. In fact, Cyborg already has more KOs in her boxing career than the undefeated (16-0) Shields.
“She’s fighting bums in MMA and boxing, yelling, ‘Oh, more knockouts than Claressa!’ But she’ll never be able to get in the ring with the world champion and beat them,” Shields continued. “She’s a punk, that’s what she is. All these girls who talk trash online, then see you face-to-face and don’t know what to say—punks! They switch up. I’m about that action. If you think you’re going to bully me online, when I see you in person, I’m going to bully you!”
With Cyborg closing in on the end of her 20-year career, could we see her step in the ring with Claressa Shields before hanging up her gloves for good?
