Savannah Marshall feels great about her MMA debut, and even better about where she’s going.
This past Saturday, Marshall made her MMA debut against Mirela Vargas in the main event of PFL Europe 2. And while the current undisputed super-middleweight boxing champion had some difficult moments early, she rallied to earn a first-round TKO. Speaking on The MMA Hour about it, Marshall noted that it was unlike anything she ever experienced before.
“When I was in the changing rooms, Tom Aspinall told me, ‘It’s not like boxing. They start fast. They start really fast,’” Marshall said on The MMA Hour. “In boxing, you can go out there, feel your range, get your jab going, three rounds in you pick up the pace. He was like, ‘No, there’s none of that. It starts fast.’ And wow! I knew it starts fast, but straight away she buckled me with a leg kick. It was just so intense and so fast-paced. Even when I got out the cage, I sat in medical doing a checkover, and I started [thinking] ‘What on Earth has just happened?’
“It was just so quick. Before I knew it, I was up, and then I was back on the floor, then she had me in a head-and-arm, then I was back up. Honestly, the adrenaline and the buzz, it was just crazy. ... The way I can describe it is fight or flight. It was literally kill or be killed, that’s how it felt for me.”
Marshall’s foray into MMA was a calculated move by both her and PFL to set up an eventual matchup with the current top pound-for-pound female boxer in the world, Claressa Shields. That would be a rematch of 2022 boxing match. As such, Shields, who also competes in MMA for PFL, was in attendance on Saturday and criticized Marshall’s performance and opponent, saying her own fights in PFL were much more difficult challenges. And while some might let that bother them, Marshall isn’t too caught up in that part of things.
“I think there’s respect there, but deep down there’s still that little bit of needle,” Marshall said. “Not just her side but even mine as well. There’s always little sly digs all the time. Even that comment there, I totally disagree. I remember Claressa’s first opponent didn’t even throw a punch. She didn’t do anything. Whereas I feel Mirela Vargas, hats off to her. Fair play because that girl who turned up was not the girl I spent three months watching on YouTube. It was the best version of her I’ve ever seen. I wasn’t expecting that.
“It is what it is. The whole reason why the PFL have signed me is for a potential matchup with Claressa. I’m OK with that. I’m not stupid. I’m not fooled by the illusion that they want me for my MMA skills. They want me for a potential matchup with her, so I’m OK with this, I’m OK with the buildup. It doesn’t bother me that she was sitting there, ripping me, because that is Claressa in full Claressa mode.”
After the fight, the two women did face off in the cage and it seems that a rematch is a forgone conclusion, but the question is when? Shields is scheduled to face Vanessa Lepage-Joanisse on July 27 in the boxing ring, and Marshall was open about not being done with her boxing career. But whenever it does happen, Marshall feels very good about her chances against “The GWOAT” in an MMA fight.
“I’d like to have Claressa next,” Marshall said. “I think in an ideal world I’d like to have a couple more, but I understand it’s business and I want to ride that wave. I think I showed that I’m OK, I can get up off the floor, I’ve still got to work on me standup, adjusting to the whole defending kicks, that sort of thing, takedowns. I don’t want to show too much of the stuff that I’ve been working on because I never really had a chance to show it on Saturday.
“So yeah, I’m quite confident I’d do Claressa in the cage. I really do [think so].”
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