Claressa Shields was pleased with her MMA debut as she defeated Brittney Elkin last week.
Shields has made a part-time switch to the discipline and while she trailed in the first two rounds against her opponent, she came back to win by knockout.
Speaking to the DAZN Boxing Show, Shields said of her difficult start: “I remember speaking to my coach - we worked this, it’s time to get up - and I was able to get up. A lot of the takedowns could have been avoided because I always ended up on top.
“I should have got back up to my striking but It was my first time and I was just so anxious on the ground, going for the ground and pound. I should have just got straight back up and created my space because I was so far ahead of her in the striking area.
“Other than that I think I did pretty good protecting myself. I didn’t take a lot of damage, as you can see. I was able to get the finish in the third round.”
The 26-year-old American former Olympian explained the feelings from winning her first MMA fight, and the work she had put in to get there.
“Winning my first MMA fight, it was so new, uncharted territory, there were so many more ways I could have lost,” she explained.
“I have never done it before, so to have been in there after seven months of training with a grappler, who has a brown belt in jiu jitsu, I was super excited to win the fight. Just has to have that comeback, losing the first round, maybe song the second, then if you’re going to win the fight you’re going to have to knock her out.
“That doesn’t happen in debuts. I got out of an arm bar, she couldn’t get me in a triangle. She tried a lot of things and I was prepared. It wasn’t a nightmare for me because I‘ve been submerging myself in all those different arts. I can’t imagine anyone thinking MMA is easy."