{"id":147873,"date":"2021-10-22T03:07:24","date_gmt":"2021-10-22T03:07:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=147873"},"modified":"2021-10-22T08:58:00","modified_gmt":"2021-10-22T08:58:00","slug":"how-shock-injury-sidelined-ufc-gun-for-over-a-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=147873","title":{"rendered":"How shock injury sidelined UFC gun for over a year"},"content":{"rendered":"

It's been over a year since Jessica-Rose Clark's most impressive UFC<\/a> performance to date.<\/p>\n

The Cairns native put on an absolute clinic, finishing her opponent Sarah Alpar in the third round.<\/p>\n

It wasn't until after the fight that she got some devastating news; probably the worst an athlete can get. A torn ACL.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

When Wide World of Sports spoke to Clark on Wednesday, her giddiness for the weekend – and a return to the octagon – was obvious.<\/p>\n

"Sitting on the shelf drives me f–king crazy," she said.<\/p>\n

"I'm so excited, I'm so excited for Saturday."<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> How Ben Simmons found himself in NBA exile<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Max Verstappen boycotts 'fake' Drive to Survive Netflix series<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

This weekend, Clark fights Joselyne Edwards on the main card of UFC Fight Night 196, more than 13 months after that surprise injury, which she initially didn't even realise had happened.<\/p>\n

Clark said she had some knee discomfort going into the fight, but had no instability or other issues.<\/p>\n

"It was just aggravated, and then I fought and tore it – because the difference before and after that fight was night and day."<\/p>\n

The 33-year-old pinpointed a moment late in the fight as when the incident probably happened.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

"She had a hold of my left foot, and I remember my grappling coach telling me to pull my foot out and I was like 'I can't, there's something wrong'.<\/p>\n

"I'm pretty sure that's when it happened – it wasn't painful or anything, it just felt wrong. I don't know how else to describe it. I was so surprised when I found out what it was, I was like 'what the f–k? That didn't happen.'"<\/p>\n

She was back kickboxing three months after the injury, but jiu jitsu and wrestling weren't back on the table until a month before she was offered this fight.<\/p>\n

\"UFC<\/p>\n

"I don't even know if that was because of physical ability, or because mentally I was worried about it," she said about the latter two disciplines.<\/p>\n

When she realised she hadn't missed a beat, it was time to get back in the octagon.<\/p>\n

"It's why I said yes immediately," she said.<\/p>\n

And after more than a year, that return will finally come this weekend.<\/p>\n

"It was just being patient. I had to deal with my coach, my surgeon and my physical therapist telling me almost daily to chill," she said.<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Conor McGregor accused of attack on Italian DJ<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Ben Simmons accused of 'faking injury and mental illness'<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

"It's hard when you go from being a full-time athlete to only being allowed to walk and not really do anything else.<\/p>\n

"I really think it taught me a lot more appreciation for what I do get to do and what my body is capable of."<\/p>\n

A win here would likely catapult Clark into the top 15 rankings of the bantamweight division – which would open more doors, earn more money and create better match-ups.<\/p>\n

While you often hear fighters talking beyond their station, calling out the biggest names at the first opportunity, Clark offered a surprising answer when asked if she still wanted to fight Miesha Tate.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/twitter.com\/missjessyjess\/status\/1416614187766145028<\/a><\/p>\n

"I'm going to be completely honest with you – I really want to fight Miesha, and getting into the rankings would be amazing, but I'm not making the money to fight Miesha yet.<\/p>\n

"I have no doubt in my mind that I'm competitive with the top fighters – but the thing is, what's she making, $200,000 a fight? I'm not going to keep calling out someone who's making ten times what I'm making. It's high-risk, low reward for her, but we'll get there.<\/p>\n

"I just love to fight, I really don't care who it is. Everyone's gonna get a turn."<\/p>\n

For a daily dose of the best of the breaking news and exclusive content from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter by clicking here!<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It's been over a year since Jessica-Rose Clark's most impressive UFC performance to date. The Cairns native put on an absolute clinic, finishing her opponent […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147873"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=147873"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147873\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":147875,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147873\/revisions\/147875"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=147873"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=147873"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=147873"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}