- Claressa Shields accused Cris Cyborg of ending their friendship and constantly refusing to fight her
- “T-Rex” doesn’t want to be friends with the Brazilian but is still down to fight
Claressa Shields opened up about her feud with Cris Cyborg and why their much-awaited fight is still not taking place.
Shields couldn’t go any lower
Speaking to MMA Mania, “T-Rex” revealed that she and Cyborg were really friends but the Brazilian refused to fight her at 154 when the opportunity came. Instead, Shields said Cyborg demanded that they fight at 147 or 145, which was too low for her.
“People from Saudi reached out to me about having money for me and her to have a boxing match. They were considering it to be like a Tyson Fury vs. [Francis] Ngannou,” Shields began. “I called her up and was like, ‘Hey. This is what we got,’ because we were friends. I let her know the money’s on the table. I gave her the weight class, 154. That’s the lowest that I’ve fought at in boxing and then I thought me and Cris were good and I gave her the guy’s number, her and her team talked to the guy, and then all of the sudden the guy’s calling like, ‘Cris doesn’t want to fight. She said she wants to fight you at 147 or at 145.”
“I’m not going down that low, I’ve never been down there,” she continued. “This is an opportunity that came from me so, of course, I’m gonna pick the weight class. I didn’t tell her to come to ‘60. I said fight me at 154. Me and Cris both walk around at the same weight. 170-175. So, for her to make it seem like 147 is just the best thing to do is like no, it’s not. It’s actually draining me of my power and not making it be a fair fight even though it’s like if I wanted to make 147 I could. It’s the fact of like, why?”
“I don’t really have patience for anybody disrespecting me.”
Claressa Shields says she and Cris Cyborg were offered to box each other in Saudia Arabia. (via @DrakeRiggs_)
Full: https://t.co/zBdktNFCeR pic.twitter.com/bYDjuXVNHw
— MMA Mania (@mmamania) June 18, 2024
From friends to foes
Back in February, Cyborg addressed the issue and claimed that Shields doesn’t want to fight her at 147 with 8-ounce gloves but was down to fight other fighters. Clearly, there was already conflict between the two and they officially let each other know that they are not on good terms when they crossed paths.
There is nothing scary about @Claressashields
Boxing is not a real fight.
In a real fight I suplex her on her head.
The reason she doesn’t want to fight me with 8oz gloves but is willing to fight Alycia and Cecilia at 147lbs is because they aren’t punchers.
Full video YT pic.twitter.com/7Nq58diJoB
— CrisCyborg.Com (@criscyborg) February 15, 2024
“When I seen her in person, she wanted to be friendly and I was like, ‘Don’t try to be friendly to me when you were just talking all this crap online. Keep that same energy.’ When I get mad, I’m not really the nicest girl and I had to let her know that. This is how I treat my friends, but as far as you not being a friend now, this is how I will treat you and how I will be around you. I ain’t fake and I’m not gonna be acting like something didn’t happen when it happened. She betrayed our friendship for the internet and for clout. We don’t gotta be cool, we don’t gotta kick it, but if she wants to fight, we can,” Shields said.
As it stands, Shields remains unbeaten in boxing and is set to face Vanessa Lepage-Joanisse in a title fight. Cyborg, meanwhile, is coming off another knockout win in boxing to improve her record to 4-0.
