After a rough week that saw her Las Vegas home robbed and her cat killed by the suspects, flyweight contender Jessica-Rose Clark showed up ready to fight in Sunday’s UFC Fight Night co-main event at Scottrade Center in St. Louis, as she defeated Paige VanZant via unanimous decision.
Scores were 30-27 and 29-28 twice for the No. 10-ranked Clark 9-4 with 1 NC. VanZant falls to 7-4.
Clark had good success with her counterpunches on the feet before getting the fight to the mat, where she nearly sunk in an arm triangle choke. The fight didn’t move from the canvas for the rest of the round, with Clark dominating from the top position.
Despite the grueling ground action of round one, VanZant had plenty of energy for the second, firing off kicks and landing a spinning back fist before scoring a takedown. When they rose, Clark evened the score with a takedown of her own, soon locking in a triangle choke. VanZant tried to punch her way out of trouble, and it bought her enough time to get out of the round.
Before round three, VanZant told her corner that her right arm was broken, but she was still gamely battling with the Aussie standout in the final frame, firing off kicks at her foe. Clark would score with hard counters when VanZant got too aggressive, and even though the busier fighter in the final five minutes was the Reno native, it wasn’t enough to turn the fight around.
USMAN vs MEEK
Top ten welterweight Kamaru Usman extended his winning streak to ten against Emil Meek, earning a three-round unanimous decision victory.
After a couple right hands came up short at the start, Meek (9-3-1, 1 NC) tried to lock in a guillotine choke on an Usman (12-1) takedown, but Usman took his time and got loose. “The Nigerian Nightmare” proceeded to bull Meek into the fence, and while the Norwegian had a few moments of daylight during the rest of the round, they didn’t come without Usman locked on to him.
Bloodied by some late first-round elbows, Usman got caught with some of Meek’s strikes early in the second, but he quickly settled in and got another takedown with three minutes left. Now bloodied as well, Meek fired off more elbows from the bottom, but Usman held the top position.
Meek refused to go away, throwing all strikes with bad intentions, but Usman’s wrestling was too much, as he remained in control throughout round three, wrapping up a shutout decision that read 30-27 across the board.
ELKINS vs JOHNSON
It was a typical Darren Elkins fight in the main card opener, as the Indiana native bounced back from a rough first round to submit featherweight newcomer and hometown favorite Michael Johnson in the second, making it six in a row for “The Damage.”
Johnson’s first round as a featherweight couldn’t have gone better, as he controlled the fight with his standup game, his left hand being the most effective weapon as he bloodied Elkins, who was unable to get the fight to the mat.
Elkins did get a takedown in the opening minute of round two, and he proceeded to fire off strikes before taking Johnson’s back with a little over three minutes left. A rear naked choke followed, and Johnson tapped out at the 2:22 mark, capping off another come from behind victory for Elkins.
With the win, the No. 10-ranked Elkins moves to 25-5. Johnson falls to 18-13.
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