Following UFC 245 and another successful title defense, double-champ Amanda Nunes shut down any talk of a boxing super-fight with Claressa Shields.
Las Vegas, NV — One step closer to being the GOAT, if she isn’t there already. Amanda Nunes put on a dominant performance against Germaine de Randamie at UFC 245, defeating ‘The Iron Lady’ for the second time inside the octagon.
It’s becoming increasingly hard to see anyone but Nunes as the greatest of all time in women’s MMA. As silly and frequently contrived as such debates often get, Nunes has been on a tear. She holds two titles, and has practically cleared out the women’s bantamweight division of challengers.
Which may be why Dana White and the UFC brass have been mulling over the idea of putting Nunes up against boxer Claressa Shields.
If it’s a boxing match, however, forget it, Nunes told media outlets including Cageside Press at Saturday’s UFC 245 post-fight press conference. An MMA fight? That might be a different story, but ‘The Lioness’ isn’t so sure Shields would truly be interested.
“She saw tonight, think she’s not going to want anything to do with this,” said Nunes following her five-round unanimous decision win. Nunes (19–4) is now on a ten-fight win streak, with victories over UFC champs Ronda Rousey, Miesha Tate, Holly Holm, Valentina Shevchenko, Cris Cybog, and now Germaine de Randamie.
That list makes clear why it’s hard to find worthy contenders, and why boxing could be an option. But Nunes isn’t interested in getting in a ring. “If she want to see me, come to my world. I’m an MMA fighter. If she wants to see me, I’m going to wrestle the sh*t out of you. And finish you. With a Jiu-jitsu submission. I want to see how she’s going to deal with that.”
She reiterated that stance later, when it was pointed out that Shields, at least, was willing to throw down in both worlds. “I’m an MMA fighter. Why she want to take me from my sport?” Nunes retorted. “If she wants to fight me, come to my world.”
“It doesn’t make any sense. I respect her as a boxer, but I’m an MMA fighter,” Nunes continued. “I don’t like to fight boxing. I like MMA. I like what I did today. If she can handle that for five rounds, come see me.”
Nunes was also more than a bit incredulous at the notion that Shields would need six to twelve months to shore up her ground game. “Six months to learn how to defend a takedown? Germaine had six years, she didn’t even learn how to defend a takedown, you guys saw [it] tonight.”
Watch the full UFC 245 press conference with women’s bantamweight and featherweight champion Amanda Nunes above!
