Claressa Shields is officially back in the ring after the Michigan Unarmed Combat Commission (MUCC) lifted her suspension following a thorough investigation. The decision comes after Shields was temporarily barred from competing in her home state over a disputed positive marijuana test, a ruling she fiercely contested and has now been overturned.
Shields was banned from participating in Michigan due to testing positive for marijuana following an oral fluid test taken after her match with Danielle Perkins on February 2. At that moment, her promoter, Dmitriy Salita, expressed confidence that Shields would be exonerated after the investigation.
In a triumphant post on X (formerly Twitter), Claressa Shields shared the official court order from Michigan’s Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs, which declared there was “no longer an imminent threat to the integrity of the sport” posed by her case. The document effectively dissolves her suspension, allowing the Flint, Michigan, native to resume her boxing career immediately.
“Officially unsuspended! But y’all a little quiet! Y’all was real loud about me “supposedly” smoking marijuana and being suspended! No worries! And still an Undisputed heavyweight champ! I have the Order to prove it!!! About to go live on Instagram!” she wrote.
Claressa Shields also went on Instagram Live to confront the issue in her characteristic forthright manner, challenging those who circulated false information about her.
“Was I around somebody that’s smoking? Yeah, I was. The Dork Federal. Everybody was in there smoking. But do I need some damn weed? No, I don’t! I never smoke weed!”
The boxing champion stated that her oral swab was improperly handled before undergoing testing and highlighted procedural mistakes in her case, insisting on an apology from those who wrongfully accused her.
“For everybody who shared that I was smoking weed and put that weed s**t on my name—you owe me an apology!”
According to the ruling, her suspension was officially dissolved on March 14.
However, the last line of the Order issued by the MUCC reads, “The Order does not resolve the Formal Complaint … and does not close the enforcement action.”
