The highly anticipated debut of two-time Olympic gold medalist boxer Claressa Shields went down tonight in the main event of PFL 4. Though it looked like Shields was in trouble in the first two rounds against BJJ brown belt and F2W veteran Brittney Elkin, Shields managed to finish the fight in round three.
Round one began with Elkin throwing out kicks and Shields firing back with some of her dangerous punches. Elkin wasted no time, however, in bringing the fight to the ground, taking Shields down against the fence. Shields quickly fought her way back to her feet and even managed to get Elkin down, but Elkin scored a sweep to reverse the position and get mount. Elkin then began looking for an armbar, throwing elbows into the mix as well, but wasn’t able to finish the fight before it moved to round two.
After a few punches from Shields at the start of round two, Elkin again brought the fight to the ground, transitioning quickly from side control to mount. Elkin stayed heavy, shutting down Shields’ attempts to escape from beneath her. Towards the end of the round, though, a failed armbar attempt from Elkin gave Shields the opportunity she needed to escape and fire back with some hard punches as Elkin worked to protect herself until the round ended.
Round three saw Elkin try to take Shields to the canvas with a takedown, but this time, Shields was able to defend with a heavy sprawl. From there, Shields rained down strikes on her opponent while Elkin tried to hold on to her legs. Soon, though, Elkin’s grip loosened, and Shields punched her way to victory as the referee stopped the fight at 1:44 into round three.
MMA debut
@Claressashields earned the third-round TKO victory at #2021PFL4 pic.twitter.com/U1DZZsKctq
— ESPN MMA (@espnmma) June 11, 2021
PFL 4 Full Results:
Prelims:
- Chris Wade def. Arman Ospanov via TKO (Round 2)
- Sheymon Moraes def. Jesse Stirn via kimura (Round 2)
- Loik Radzhabov def. Akhmed Aliev via KO (Round 1)
- Olivier Aubin-Mercier def. Marcin Held via decision
- Natan Schulte def. Alex Martinez via split decision
Main Card
- Brendan Loughnane def. Tyler Diamond via decision
- Bubba Jenkins def. Bobby Moffett via decision
- Clay Collard def. Joilton Lutterbach via split decision
- Claressa Shields def. Brittney Elkin via TKO (Round 3)
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