Tonight at PFL 4, Claressa Shields (0-0) made her highly anticipated MMA debut. Arguably the greatest female boxer of all time took to the cage to take on 12-year MMA veteran Brittney Elkin (3-6).
In the first round at PFL 4, Shields immediately took the center and looked for her right hand. However, Brittney Elkin went for the takedown as soon as she could. Elkin was able to land the takedown, but Shields did a good job of getting up to her feet.
Shields was actually able to reverse the position and land good shots. However, Elkin was able to immediately get back to the top position and she was able to work her way to the mount. Elkin, a jiu jitsu brown belt, held the mount but couldn’t mount a ton of offense.
In the final minute of the first round at PFL 4,. Elkin did some damage from the mount, but couldn’t finish the fight. In the second round, Shields started the round extremely well. She landed some bombs on Elkin and looked like she hurt Elkin which forced a sloppy shot.
Shields followed Elkin to the ground and she was immediately put on her back. It was very evident at PFL 4 that Shields was showing a ton of inexperience on the ground. Elkin moved right to the mount as soon as she got the top position.
The rest of the second round featured Elkin dominating from the mount position. Shields did show some good defense in escaping an arm bar just at the end of the second round and she landed bombs in the final seconds of the round.
In the third round, Shields completely turned things around. She defended a takedown beautifully and was able to get top position on Brittney Elkin. Shields rained down bombs and scored the TKO win in her MMA debut at PFL 4.
Clay Collard picks up second win of 2021
In the co-main event, Clay Collard (19-9, 1 NC) returned to take on Joilton Lutterbach (35-9, 1 NC). Back at PFL 1, Collard spoiled the debut of former UFC lightweight champion Anthony Pettis. On the heels of his successful year in professional boxing, Collard rode that momentum into PFL 1.
However, tonight was a different story. From the first round, you could tell that Lutterbach was going to be a challenge for Collard. It took Collard a while to get comfortable and throughout the night he would try striking blitzes to throw off Lutterbach.
However, every time he did that, he would get taken down. The fight ultimately came down to the grappling of Lutterbach versus the striking of Collard. The third round was the decisive round of the fight. Collard landed bigger shots, but Lutterbach landed takedowns. Ultimately, two of the judges at PFL 4 gave the fight to Clay Collard.
Other PFL 4 Main Card Results
The action was great from start to finish at PFL 4. With the main card on ESPN2, all of the fights delivered. In the first fight on the main card Natan Schulte (21-4-1) took on Alex Martinez (8-1, 1 NC). Martinez was originally supposed to fight Anthony Pettis, however, Pettis pulled out yesterday due to an illness.
It was a very close fight this evening and Martinez had some big moments. However, the takedowns proved to be the difference as Natan Schulte won a split decision. A big bounce back win for the former PFL champion who lost in his opening fight in 2021.
Fresh off of defeating Lance Palmer, Bubba Jenkins (16-4) returned to take on Bobby Moffett (13-6, 1 NC). Jenkins controlled the first part of the fight, but Moffett proved to be extremely tough. Moffett poured it on in the third round, but ultimately it wasn’t enough to sway the judges and Jenkins picked up the win.
Brendan Loughnane (21-3) and Tyler Diamond (12-2) put on an incredible fight at PFL 4. Both men left everything they had in the cage, but Loughnane won a decision and clinched a spot in the PFL featherweight playoffs. It was an incredible night of fights for the Professional Fight League overall.