Abigail Montes is confident she can pull off the upset and defeat Claressa Shields in the PFL finals on Wednesday.
In a non-championship bout, the undefeated pro boxer in Shields is set for her second MMA fight against Montes. It’s a step-up in competition for Shields and Montes knows she has the skills to be able to expose the holes in the boxer’s game.
“I saw her debut – obviously, her boxing is top level and it’s explosive and strong, but there are many holes,” Montes told MMA Junkie in Spanish. “Translating boxing to MMA is completely different. Adapting that to MMA is difficult because you have patterns from your entire life and you can’t change that overnight. It takes time. I’m telling you, I saw a lot of holes that I can take advantage of and use to get my win.”
With Abigail Montes seeing holes in Claressa Shields’ game she is confident she will be able to pull off the upset. The 2-0 MMA fighter knows a win over Shields would be massive for her career as the boxer is a massive star in combat sports and handing her, her first loss would be special.
“I knew of her. I follow her career and I knew that she had just made the jump to MMA,” Montes said, recalling how she got the call to fight Shields. “At first, I was taken away by the offer, but I never doubted on taking the fight because I saw it as an opportunity. But I was taken away by it and excited, too. It was like, ‘Wow in just my third fight I can fight someone that I follow and admire.’ That’s super cool. Things happen for a reason and opportunity doesn’t come twice, so here I am.”
However, for Montes, once she steps into the cage with her, she says she’ll view her as any other opponent. She also shared how she envisions the fight ending tomorrow night.
“I visualize the moment of victory often,” she told Mexican News Daily. “I foresee a potential ground-and-pound or submission victory.”
The 2021 PFL season finale takes place Wednesday, October 27, 2021. The main card begins at 8:00 PM ET and will be available on ESPN2 and ESPN+.
Do you think Abigail Montes will be able to beat Claressa Shields?
