Jessica Rose-Clark is one of the most well-liked fan favourites in the business today. Her no-nonsense style lends itself to exciting fights, big finishes and headlines. The Aussie native has upped sticks and now lives in America, training out of Combat Sports Academy under the tutelage of legendary striking coach, Kirian Fitzgibbons. The relationship between the two has certainly been a lucrative one for Clark, who is 2-0 in her last two bouts, having dominated both. Interestingly, however, her last fight saw her utilise a much more wrestling heavy approach. We take a look at what to expect from ‘Jessy Jess’ in her upcoming UFC bout against the always game, Stephanie Egger at UFC Vegas 48.
Striking Approach
Jessica Rose-Clark is certainly known for her striking. She’s impressed massively throughout her UFC tenure, defeating impressive strikers such as Bec Rawlings and Paige Van-Zant. She has an output of 4.10 significant strikes landed per minute, a huge number in comparison to her opponent, Egger, who averages just 1.74. Interestingly, both women have a 52% striking accuracy, however, Egger absorbs much less than Clark, just 1.88 as opposed to the 3.65 of Clark.
Against Sarah Alpar in September 2020, Clark put on a striking clinic, outlanding her opponent, 124-26 and defending nine of 11 takedowns. We know that her Muay Thai skills are solid, choosing to punish her opponents with knees and elbows often. In the clinch, Clark was able to crack Alpar with short elbows, causing her to give up her back and allowing the Aussie to take an advantageous position. This sequence is seen below.
The heavy elbows and positional reverse is something that Clark can use in her next fight against Eggar, who has good defensive clinch wrestling. We’ve seen in Eggar’s most recent fights that the Judo black-belt predictably has solid hip throws, so Clark has to be aware of this threat. Landing heavy elbows can be a way of deterring Eggar from entering the clinch on her terms.
Wrestling Approach
In her most recent two fights, we’ve seen a much heavier wrestling approach from Clark. Against Alpar, she was able to utilise strong clinch work and defensive wrestling in order to dominate her opponent. Clocking up 8:18 control time on her way to a third-round TKO, Clark showed just how much she’d improved.
Clark’s offence wrestling was on full show in her most recent bout against Joselyne Edwards. Her gameplan was clear as she came straight out of the blocks searching for a takedown within the first 10 seconds. She was able to strike her way into the clinch and secure the outside sweep takedown. With heavy hips and solid top pressure, Clark was able to dominate Edwards on her way to a unanimous decision victory. 11:40 control time saw Edwards get off very little offence in a frustrating fight for the Panamanian.
She was relentless in her pursuit of the takedown throughout, and as we can see below, although she didn’t get her originally single leg takedown, she was able to adapt, use Edwards’ momentum against her and secure the takedown. This is high-level wrestling that we will likely see Jessy Jess implement against Eggar at UFC Vegas 48.
Clark certainly has more keys to victory than Eggar this Saturday night that will likely see her get her hand raised after 15 minutes. Although Eggar is a solid Judoka, Clark is strong for 135lbs, which will likely help her in the clinch, should Eggar choose to attack from there. Clark has the superior striking, heavier top game and also has a lot more experience than her opponent. Tune in on Saturday night to see how these two women get on!
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