Claressa Shields says she plans on training with arguably the greatest fighter of all-time in Jon Jones ahead of her MMA debut.
The boxing world champion is looking to become a three-weight champ on Jan. 10 but has also said she plans on going into MMA and fighting Amanda Nunes. Yet, Nunes said she would out wrestler her, so the boxing champ has already worked on wrestling with Olympians and now plans to train MMA at JacksonWink with Jon Jones.
“I’m starting my training this year, 2020,” Shields said to BJPENN.com. “I’ve been able to catch on to things very fast, learn and I’ve had some great people who have reached out to me. I’ll be going to camp with Jon Jones, I believe, at the end of February just to see if I can get into the whole training thing and do what he does because he’s so great. I’m looking forward to it.
“I’ve already had my wrestling done with Adaline Gray who was an Olympic wrestler, multiple-time world champion wrestler. We did some work together and she was shocked at how quick I caught on to landing a takedown and avoiding a takedown. She was putting everything in my head right there and I thought it would be the worst training ever because I hate when people grab me — just in boxing, being a boxer you want to be free and loose to punch — but when we were working, I wasn’t irritated when she was grabbing me. If you teach me how to have some defense, and how I can get the takedown myself, I’m perfectly fine. I don’t like going into anything blind. I learned a lot and I have plenty of video in case I forget, but I’m ready to get super consistent with it.”
For Shields, she is focused on this upcoming boxing fight but says she will make her MMA debut in 2020. She also revealed she is in talks with UFC, Bellator and ONE Championship.
