This is the UFC St. Louis live blog for Paige VanZant vs. Jessica-Rose Clark, a flyweight bout at Sunday’s UFC event at the Scottrade Center in St. Louis, Missouri.
VanZant, who has won three of her past five fights, will fight Clark, who also has won three of her past five fights, on the main card.
Check out the UFC St. Louis live blog below.
Round 1: Good combination by Clark to start off the fight. Man, Clark landing some good shots on VanZant. Clark with a solid takedown gets VanZant to the ground. VanZant back up, but is now being clinched against the cage. Clark sinks in an arm-triangle from the clinch and gets VanZant to the ground. It’s looking tight. VanZant gets out. Two minutes left. Clark with good top control. It seems Clark is just overpowering VanZant. One minute left. Not much going on here, Clark controlling VanZant from half guard. The bell rings.
MMA Fighting scored the round 10-9, Clark.
Round 2: And the second round is underway. VanZant looking to stay on the outside of the cage. Good combination by VanZant. The Team Alpha Male product clinches Clark against the cage. Clark reverses position but commits a mistake and ends up with VanZant on top. Clark scrambles out of it, attacking with a leg lock and manages to reverse positions on VanZant, and get top control. Clark controlling VanZant in half guard. Two minutes left. VanZantreverses the position and ends on top in a triangle choke. It looks tight but VanZant is fighting hard to get out of it. One minute left. VanZant still in the triangle, landing ground-and-pound. Clark landing elbows from bottom. And the bell rings.
MMA Fighting scored the round 10-9, Clark. Overall, 20-18, Clark.
Round 3: Again, VanZant looking to stay on the outside. VanZant very active with her strikes but nothing is landing. Good leg kick by Clark. It seems VanZant is really looking land a head kick. Three minutes left. Clark pressuring VanZant a lot. And nice left lands by Clark folowed by a leg kick. Good left hook land for VanZant. Not much going on here. Both fighters throwing a lot but not much is landing. On minute left. Clark turning up the pressure throwing many kicks to the body and head. The bell rings and VanZant immediately grabs her right forearm in pain.
MMA Fighting scored the round 10-10. Overall, 30-28, Clark.
Official decision: Jessica-Rose Clark def. Paige VanZant via unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28)
Paige VanZant was confident a move from strawweight to flyweight would be just what she needed. Unfortunately for VanZant she met Jessica-Rose Clark in her debut in the new weight division. Clark, who had fought at bantamweight as recently as August, made the move down to flyweight when she entered the UFC in November.
Ahead of the fight, which was the co-main event of Sunday’s UFC Fight Night 124 card in St. Louis, VanZant spoke to MMAjunkie about how she felt the move to the higher weight division would benefit her.
“I feel like this the best I’ve ever felt going into a fight,” VanZant said. “The weight cut is what’s making all the difference. I feel amazing right now where I can actually go out there and have fun and show off some of the stuff I can do.
“The biggest difference is I’m going to go in there and feel good, honestly. I think I get to show off my skills. I’ve always been very athletic, and I’m going to show off my athletic capability a lot more now that I actually feel good going into the fight.”
VanZant, who lost the fight by unanimous decision, did not get the opportunity to showcase those capabilities.
Clark outmuscled VanZant, who had no answer for the ground game of her opponent. Clark won the fight with her grappling, heavy top game and submission attempts. For her part, VanZant, when she was able to keep the fight standing, relied heavily on flashy strikes that more often than not missed their target. And in the case of one spinning technique she threw in the first round, that left her with a broken right arm.
Well... I broke my arm in the first! I was able to finish the fight but as you can see, had a hard recovering and throwing my right. I’ll be back better and stronger than ever! it’s all apart of the fight game. God had other plans for me. darn spinning back fist. pic.twitter.com/v5DhSv5YxD — Paige VanZant (@PaigeVanzantUFC) January 15, 2018
While the broken arm undoubtedly contributed to her loss on Sunday, VanZant has looked like the same fighter in her past few fights and that's a concern for a fighter the UFC has been pushing since she was signed by the promotion in 2014.
VanZant has to make some choices with her fighting career. She’s undoubtedly tough enough to hang in the UFC, something she displayed on Sunday and in her 2015 loss to current women’s strawweight champion Rose Namajunas, but she might be too unfocused on her progress as a fighter.
With the attention the UFC has given her, VanZant has had many opportunities outside the cage. The drawback of those opportunities is that when she is participating in PR for the promotion or appearing on Dancing With the Stars, Chopped or thinking about a move to the WWE, it's not possible for her to be entirely invested in her training as a fighter. And that means she’s not learning or growing in a sport that an athlete shouldn’t be only partially invested in.
VanZant is just 23, she has plenty of time progress and move up the rankings, but if she wants to be a threat in the UFC, she needs to cut out the outside distractions. She needs to find a solid all-around gym and lock herself in that gym and do nothing but train, train and then train some more.
VanZant is now 1-3 in her four most recent bouts.
John Locher/Associated Press
Paige VanZant and Ronda Rousey never fought in a UFC match, but they could face off in another arena.
According to TMZ Sports, VanZant said she is "definitely interested" in moving to WWE and would be up for facing Rousey, adding the matchup would be "interesting."
"When the time is right," VanZant said of potentially joining WWE.
A showdown with Rousey would give VanZant a chance to face one of her heroes.
"Ronda Rousey," she said in her UFC profile when asked if she has any heroes. "Without her I would not be where I am today, in the UFC. I plan to follow her path but leave my own footsteps."
VanZant has a 7-3 record in MMA and is set to face Jessica-Rose Clark on Sunday at UFC Fight Night 124 after she last lost a match in December 2016 against Michelle Waterson.
As for Rousey's potential move to WWE, TMZ Sports reported she was seen with WWE's Executive Vice President of Talent, Triple H, and suggested they were "one step closer to hammering out a deal."
MMA fighter Tyron Woodley also told TMZ Sports Rousey's venture into professional wrestling would happen soon.
VanZant could be waiting for her when it does.
