Jessica-Rose Clark Gets Savagely Injured Just 42 Seconds Into UFC Fight
The opening fight on the UFC 276 card in Las Vegas came to a heart-stopping end when Aussie Jessica-Rose Clark had her arm snapped less than a minute into her clash with Julija Stoliarenko.
Clark was off to a good start when she knocked the Lithuanian down with a right hand but quickly found herself trapped in an arm bar that went too far, leaving her in excruciating pain after she tried to tap out.
The incident likely left Clark with a broken arm and dislocated elbow after her joint was hyperextended in such a barbaric way.
The Queenslander was left in torment in the octagon.
Clark, who said she spent three hours in a Las Vegas hospital with her coach, said her opponent was to blame for the extent of the damage, telling fans “she did a really good job of continuing to armbar me after I tapped.”
“But that’s fine, it is what is,” an emotional Clark said in a video posted Saturday on her Instagram account. “I felt great. I still cried the entire time I was at the hospital, but I feel alright.
“I am understandably heartbroken, but I did everything right this camp.”
After the fight, Stoliarenko said she put the armbar on as hard as she could because she’d been accused of not being aggressive enough with her submissions earlier in her career.
Clark’s loss dropped her UFC record to one win and four losses in a devastating blow to the 34-year-old Queenslander.
After making her mixed martial arts debut in 2012, Clark quickly amassed a 5-1 record
Some fans encouraged Clark to retire after the bout. Her last victory came against Joselyne Edwards at UFC Fight Night 196 in October last year, putting her on a two-fight winning streak after previously overcoming Sarah Alpar by technical knockout in September 2020.
Nicknamed ‘Jessy Jess’, Clark made her mixed martial arts debut in 2012 and quickly developed a 5-1 record.
She had her first UFC fight against Bec Rawlings in November 2017 and on Sunday in Vegas she riled up the crowd by walking out to the octagon to the tune of Sexy Boy, the song used by professional wrestling legend Shawn Michaels.