PFL 2021, Week 4: Claressa Shields’ MMA debut results and discussion

Bloody Elbow 2.0 | Anton Tabuena

The Professional Fighters League continues its 2021 regular season tonight (June 10th) from Atlantic City, NJ.

PFL’s Week 4 has a special main event that has nothing to do with its regular season/postseason format. We will see the highly anticipated debut of undisputed world boxing champion Claressa Shields in an MMA cage. Her opponent is Brittney Elkin, who was Kayla Harrison’s pro debut opponent. This will be a three-round bout at 155 lbs and Shields is all ready to go, and it’ll no doubt be intriguing to see how she looks in her first MMA contest.

We were supposed to see Anthony Pettis against Alexander Martinez as part of the lightweight regular season finale, but Pettis withdrew due to illness and will compete two weeks later. In his place is Natan Schulte, although that matchup has been dropped to the prelims.

For the uninformed: Everyone competes twice in the regular season, with three five-minute rounds (but no elbows), and the points system works as follows:

Win – 3 pts
First round stoppage – 3 bonus pts
Second round stoppage – 2 bonus pts
Third round stoppage – 1 bonus pt

Draw – 1 pt for each fighter

Loss – 0 points

Aside from Shields vs. Elkin, Week 4 is all about the men’s lightweights and featherweights, and Bloody Elbow is the place to be to discuss the event. The prelims begin at 7 PM ET on ESPN+ and then the main card at 10 PM ET on ESPN2 and ESPN+. International viewers can find their outlet here.

The fight card is as follows:

ESPN2/ESPN+ Card (10 PM ET/7 PM PT)

Claressa Shields def. Brittney Elkin via TKO (strikes) – Round 3, 1:44

Clay Collard vs. Joilton Lutterbach via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)

Bubba Jenkins def. Bobby Moffett via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)

Brendan Loughnane def. Tyler Diamond via majority decision (30-27, 29-27, 28-28)

ESPN+ Card (7 PM ET/4 PM PT)

Natan Schulte def. Alex Martinez via split decision (28-29, 29-28, 29-28)

Olivier Aubin-Mercier def. Marcin Held via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)

Loik Radzhabov def. Akhmed Aliev via KO (strikes) – Round 1, 0:27

Sheymon Moraes def. Jesse Stirn via submission (kimura) – Round 2, 4:59

Chris Wade def. Arman Ospanov via TKO (strikes) – Round 2, 2:18

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Mookie Alexander

Mookie is a former Associate Editor for Bloody Elbow, leaving in August 2022 after ten years as a member of the staff. He's still lurking behind the scenes.