Clark takes VanZant's UFC flyweight debut by unanimous decision
Jessica-Rose Clark managed to end a miserable week on a high note.
Days after burglars stole $30,000 worth of her belongings and killed her cat, the flyweight thwarted Paige VanZant's designs on reinvention at 125 pounds with a unanimous decision victory at Sunday's UFC Fight Night 124 in St. Louis.
After the death of her cat and having her home broken into, Jessica-Rose Clark still triumphs at #UFCSTL https://t.co/f0EecZNm8L
— FOX Sports: UFC (@UFCONFOX) January 15, 2018
The 30-year-old picked up her second UFC victory in as many walks to the Octagon not two months after edging Bec Rawlings by split decision in her promotional debut.
Clark scored a takedown and smothered VanZant - albeit without inflicting any damage - to pocket Round 1, during which the latter broke her right arm, as she later told her cornermen.
VanZant managed to bring the action to the mat herself in the second, but Clark trapped her in a triangle choke for her trouble. While VanZant survived the submission to answer the third-round bell, the injury limited her offense to kicks in the final stanza while Clark aimed to score points with her boxing. The 23-year-old VanZant was seen favoring her right arm as soon as the final horn sounded, but her resilience didn't translate to points on the scorecards, and all three judges gave Clark the nod.
Thirteen months after Michelle Waterson choked her unconscious in her final fight at strawweight, the Oregon native is now on the first two-fight skid of her career. VanZant's UFC record sits at 4-3.