The clock isn’t necessarily ticking for Clark, who turned 34 last November, but she doesn’t anticipate fighting for more than 10 years. She knows she has a handful of good years left to give in the sport, and she is keen on making the most of that window of time while she can.
That’s part of the reason why she was eager to fight in the first quarter of 2022, her fastest turnaround since 2018. After entering the UFC as a flyweight, Clark feels healthy and at home as an undersized bantamweight. Since returning to the division, she is 2-1 and believes it’s about time she starts making headway in the division’s rankings.
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“I believe, when I win this fight, this is going to be my last one against an unranked opponent,” Clark said. “I’m hoping I have a little number beside my name, and I’m really excited to just get the ball rolling.”
The win over Edwards not only gave Clark confidence in her body, but it also shed light on the fact that all the choices she made leading up to that result were the right ones.
“(It) was the proof that I needed that I was heading in the right direction, and I’d finally made all the changes within my personal and my professional life to put me back on the right track,” she said. “I’ve spent the last couple of years, injuries aside, sidetracked by things in my personal life. Before I went sober, it was a lot of alcohol abuse, and then it was terrible boyfriends and trying to move to different states. It was a lot of external stuff that was going on, and in the camp with Joselyn, I finally just went, ‘No. I need to put myself first. I need to stop doing this.’”
