Clark’s gesture of solidarity with protesters noted
Fights on the “early prelims” portions of UFC cards rarely get a lot of media attention.
Yet, Devin Clark’s early prelims fight on Saturday at UFC 250 in Las Vegas did just that — and not simply because of his impressive victory over Alonzo Menifield.
Clark, a South Dakota native who trains in Albuquerque at Jackson-Wink MMA, knelt and raised his right fist in the air as he was introduced before the fight — a gesture in support of protests against racism, stemming from the death of George Floyd.
Floyd, who is black, died at the hands of then-Minneapolis policeman Derek Chauvin, who is white, on May 25.
Clark is of mixed race but identifies as black.
After Clark’s victory over Menifield, he stood with his cornermen in the Octagon, all with fists raised. The group included Mike Winkeljohn, Jackson-Wink cofounder and co-head coach, who is white.
Clark’s gesture was mentioned in Saturday’s Associated Press account of UFC 250 — a status prelim fights rarely are accorded. Several websites, both sports and otherwise, published accounts.
Among them: ESPN, Yahoo, the New York Post, USA Today, Bleacher Report and The Sporting News.
Clark was unavailable for comment after the fight, having been taken to a hospital to have his left eye — damaged by a Menifield right hand in the first round — checked out.
On Instagram, Clark, nicknamed “Brown Bear,” posted only about his victory and did not mention his protest.
“Well last night turned into a dog fight and I loved it! Fractured orbital in the first round and pure grit after that.
“Thank you all for the love #ufc250 #peace”
During the fight, Clark (12-4) — with a glaring and potentially disastrous exception in the first round — blunted Menifield’s much-touted punching power by crowding the previously unbeaten Texas fighter and exploiting his superior grappling skills. As the three-round fight progressed, Menifield, who’d recorded seven first-round stoppages in his first nine fights, appeared to slow.
Seeing that, Clark gradually became more aggressive and landed some hard shots of his own.
The official scorecards reflected Clark’s gradual assertion of dominance. Two judges gave the first round to Menifield, but all three scored rounds two and three for Clark, awarding him the decision by scores of 30-27, 29-28 and 29-28.