Claressa Shields says she wants to be the Bo Jackson of MMA and boxing: “I believe I am the greatest woman of all time”

By Adam D Martin - June 17, 2021

PFL star Claressa Shields says she wants to be the Bo Jackson of MMA and boxing, saying that “I believe I am the greatest woman of all time.”

Claressa Shields, Conor McGregor

Jackson was an incredible two-sport athlete who is still the only person to ever be named to a Pro Bowl team in the NFL and an All-Star team in MLB. Many consider Jackson to be one of the greatest athletes who ever lived, and many athletes have come up behind him who have wanted to accomplish what he did, which is being great at two professional sports. Of course, it’s hard enough to be an elite athlete in one sport, but Jackson proved you can be elite in two, and that’s exactly what Shields is hoping to do herself.

Speaking to Stephen A. Smith following her successful MMA debut TKO win over Brittany Elkin at PFL 4, Smith admitted that her goal is to be the Jackson of MMA and boxing. She knows that she still has a long way to go in MMA, but she is willing to put in all the work.

“You know what 50 Cent said, he said, ‘If I can’t do it, it can’t be done.’ So I’m trying to be boxing world champ at the same time as being the MMA world champ. So I’m not giving up boxing because all my belts are here, and I’m adding MMA because I want to add that world championship from MMA, and I want to have them at the same time. Kind of like how Bo Jackson has been great at football and baseball, I want to do the same thing with the combat sports. I believe I am the greatest woman of all time. But right now, I’m only the greatest woman of all time in boxing. I want to be the greatest woman of all time in MMA, too,” Shields said.

Do you think Claressa Shields can truly become the Bo Jackson of boxing and MMA?


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Claressa Shields Professional Fighters League (PFL)