Claressa Shields managed to rack up her second professional mixed martial arts win on the undercard of PFL vs Bellator CHAMPS card, with a split decision against Kelsey De Santis.
The bout marked Shields’ first time back in Octagon since 2021 as she looked to get back to wining ways in the Smart Cage having dropped a split decision to Abby Montes. It was clear throughout the 15-minute bout in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia that Shields’ had made several improvements to her all round game during her three year away. For De Santis, the bout marked her third contest in 5 months, following her return to the sport in 2023, after an 10-year hiatus. In her returning year, DeSantis went 1-1, picking up her first professional win in the process.
The 28-year-old started the bout as she meant to go on, firing a looping overhand right found home on the chin of DeSantis several times throughout the first round. Being such a seasoned striker in another discipline, Shields has been working hard on every other facet of the sport and needed to call upon grappling skillset when, with under a minute left to go in the first round, DeSantis looked to lock up an armbar and made a small adjustment which cinched the submission attempt in deep. Shields remained calm throughout the adversity and managed to see the round out. Two of the judges gave to opening stanza to De Santis, with one sole judge scoring the round to Shields.
Round two was without doubt the Shields’ strongest round. Coming out of the gates fast, the boxing sensation implemented several and done enough to take the round on all three judges scorecards. The third round was a much closer affair with both Shields and DeSantis having spells of success, leading to a competitive final five minutes.
The final judges scorecards read 29-28, 28-29, 29-28.
An emotional ‘GWOAT’ spoke to Dan Hardy post-fight and admitted she still has a lot to work on but overall, was happy with her performance:
“First, I just want to thank God. I want to thank Saudi for having me here. I want to thank the PFL. I had such a hard camp. It's not easy what I'm trying to do and I’ve been so respectful of the sport. And I put in a lot of hard work for this. And I'm just going to go back to the gym and work harder.
“But I almost got my arm snapped in a freaking armbar. Had to fight out of there. I couldn’t quite figure it all the way out in the third round, but I know I had a strong first round and I definitely had a hard second.
“And I won the beginning the third round. So I just want to thank Kelsey and her team for accepting the fight.”
She also revealed that the camp proved to be so difficult, she had even contemplated giving up.
“It was days in camp where I was literally holding in tears and I was not considering going back to the gym because it was just so hard. But I forced myself to go back and that's how I got the win tonight.”
The full PFL vs Bellator CHAMPS card proved to be extremely exciting, with Bellator claiming five wins across the six main card bouts.
