Claressa Shields intends to apply the same trademark determination that has helped make her an elite-level boxer to her return to mixed martial arts later this year.

The three-division boxing champion’s split-decision defeat to Abigail Montes in her second MMA match October 28 didn’t demoralize her. Shields considers that close loss an invaluable learning experience in the second sport she ambitiously attempted to conquer.

The two-time Olympic gold medalist is looking forward to boxing Ema Kozin on February 5, but her loss to Mexico’s Montes motivated her to hone her MMA skills later this year.

“I’m happy to get back in the ring, but I’m not done with MMA,” Shields told BoxingScene.com. “And I don’t feel like my last fight was a setback. It was a split-decision loss, but I definitely learned from it to move forward. But boxing’s my first love. I love to go out there and showcase my skills, and I believe that over the next few fights that I’ll be back number one on everyone’s pound-for-pound list, especially in the women’s division. I think with the skills that I’ll show in the next coming fights that I’ll be on the men’s pound-for-pound list, because I’m about to bring some new tricks out the bag.”

Shields (11-0, 2 KOs) is heavily favored to beat Slovenia’s Kozin (21-0-1, 11 KOs) in their 10-round fight for the IBF, WBA, WBC and WBO championships at Motorpoint Arena in Cardiff, Wales.

If the 26-year-old Shields wins what will be her first boxing match in 11 months, she’ll secure her place in a showdown with rival Savannah Marshall, the only opponent to beat her in an amateur or professional boxing match. Shields, of Flint, Michigan, hasn’t lost in a boxing match since Marshall out-pointed her, 14-8, in an international tournament in May 2012.

England’s Marshall (11-0, 9 KOs), who is recovering from a hand injury, is expected to take a tune-up bout before she fights Shields at some point late in the spring or early in the summer. Regardless, Shields is anxiously awaiting her third MMA fight as well.

“I plan to fight in MMA toward the end of the year,” Shields said. “I wanna have three to four boxing matches and then focus strictly on MMA, because I wanna be in the PFL season in 2023.”

Shields’ first two MMA bouts were part of Professional Fighters League cards televised by ESPN2, yet neither encounter was part of an official PFL season.

Sky Sports will televise Shields-Kozin and a 12-round middleweight bout between England’s Chris Eubank Jr. (31-2, 23 KOs) and Wales’ Liam Williams (23-3-1, 18 KOs) in the United Kingdom and Ireland. FITE.TV will stream those two fights and a portion of the rest of the undercard outside of the UK and Ireland ($29.99 in the United States).

Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.