Claressa Shields suffered her first defeat as an expert fighter – and simply second ever in any fight sport – by break up resolution to Abigail Montes on Wednesday at a Skilled Fighters League occasion on the Seminole Onerous Rock Lodge and On line casino in Hollywood, Fla.
One choose scored the three spherical combined martial arts bout in favor of Shields, 29-28, whereas the opposite two scored it 29-28 in favor of Montes, a 21-year-old from Guadalajara, Mexico.
Shields has been dominant in boxing, successful Olympic gold medals in 2012 and 2016, and professional titles from 154 to 168 kilos, however the 26-year-old from Flint, Mich. was entering into the MMA cage for simply the second time, having stopped Brittney Elkin in her debut in June.
The combat took on a well-known sample for boxers turning to MMA: Shields was in management when the motion was on their toes, whereas Montes was dominant as soon as she may take Shields to the bottom. Shields had her means for a lot of the opening stanza, however was out of her aspect within the second and third rounds, when Montes was in a position to take Shields down or push her towards the cage.
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Shields dominated together with her punches, touchdown 32 arm strikes in comparison with simply 2 for Montes, although Montes’ superior kicking allowed her to double Shields’ leg strikes, 14 to 7. Montes did her best injury on the bottom, touchdown 31 strikes on the bottom in comparison with simply 8 from Shields.
Shields was gracious in defeat, congratulating Montes, who moved her document to 3-0.
Shields’ solely different defeat got here in 2012, when she misplaced to England’s Savannah Marshall on the 2012 World Boxing Championships. Coincidentally, Shields might be again within the boxing ring on Dec. 11, defending her unified middleweight titles towards Ema Kozin on a card that will even function Marshall.
