Cris Cyborg is done being polite about Claressa Shields. On Thursday, Oct. 8, the PFL women’s featherweight champion went after the boxing star on X, claiming Shields has been avoiding her for three years and passed on a big payday to do it.
“Claressa Shields been running from me since 2023…” Cyborg wrote. “She’s turned down a multimillion dollar boxing fight and was so terrified to fight me in MMA she retired from the sport.”
The post was a reply. Cyborg quoted an MMA Mania clip of Shields talking after her win at the PFL vs. Bellator event, where Shields didn’t hold back either: “I don’t give a damn Cris Cyborg! She can’t beat me in fight…she’s just mad she turned down a fight with Larissa Pacheco.” So each side now says the other ducked. Cyborg’s post offered no details on the alleged boxing offer, such as who made it, when, or how much “multimillion” actually means.
View post on X
Where Cyborg stands
The timing matters because Cyborg is suddenly a free agent with a lot of options. She beat Ketlen Vieira by unanimous decision at PFL Tampa on Aug. 22, a fight the PFL had promoted as her retirement bout. The win pushed her pro MMA record to 30-2 and let her close her PFL contract with the belt still around her waist. Vieira missed the featherweight limit by more than seven pounds, which meant Cyborg defended her title against a noticeably bigger opponent.
Then the retirement fell apart. In an interview with MMA Sucka earlier this week, the 41-year-old Brazilian said plainly, “Yes, I will fight MMA again.” She pointed to the Vieira fight as proof she still belongs with the elite, telling the outlet she won four of the five rounds and landed nearly double Vieira’s strike total over 25 minutes.
She followed that with an Oct. 6 post on X brushing off talk that she’s slowed down. She wrote that she hasn’t lost in over seven years and put her combined boxing and MMA record at 18-0 during that stretch.
Nobody knows where she fights next. With her PFL deal finished and the PFL merging with Most Valuable Promotions, she could sign anywhere. She sat beside Scott Coker at the launch of his new Ki MMA promotion in September, though that appearance didn’t confirm she’d fight for him. A UFC return and an Amanda Nunes rematch have both come up in speculation, and she has kept boxing as well. Uncrowned’s October pound-for-pound panel still ranks her No. 4 among women.
Quick take
I’ll keep it simple. Cyborg just took 25 minutes of punishment from a woman who showed up more than seven pounds heavy and still out-landed her nearly two to one, so I’m not buying any argument that she’s scared of anybody. The Pacheco jab is Shields’ best counter, and it’s a fair question worth putting to Cyborg directly. But a 41-year-old free agent who opens every negotiation by calling out the most famous name available is building leverage in public. The smartest move for whoever signs her is to get both of them under contract before somebody comes back with another post on X.