Devin Clark’s trip to Sweden paid off on Saturday, as the light heavyweight earned a unanimous decision over Darko Stosic at UFC Stockholm.
Devin Clark was signed by the UFC at just 6-0 courtesy of Dana White’s Lookin’ for a Fight. White and company were in attendance to see “Brown Bear” win the RFA light heavyweight and signed him that night. He dropped to middleweight for his Octagon debut, losing to Alex Nicholson. The South Dakota native then returned to 205, where he is 3-2 since.
Darko Stosic is an impressive Serbian fighter with a 13-1 record with eight knockouts. Prior to joining the UFC, Stosic fought primarily at heavyweight, winning Final Fight Championship’s title in the weight class. In fact, the only loss of his career is at light heavyweight. Stosic returned to light heavyweight in his Octagon debut, winning by first-round KO last July.
Here’s the play by play:
Round 1:
Clark quickly takes the center of the cage and opens the action with an inside kick. He throws the kick once again but gets blasted with a straight right hand. Suddenly Clark drops Stosic with a jab. As the Serbian pops to his feet, Clark takes him down. Stosic sits on all fours while Clark is on his side. The Mirko Cro-Cop student grabs a wrist of Clark and just holds on. Clark can’t free his hand and Stosic uses it to get back up to his feet.
Clark clips Stosic with a high kick and charges forward but nearly gets dropped by a huge right hand. The clinch and Stosic hit Clark with a big uppercut. He charges forward at Clark but gets tagged with a perfectly timed spinning back fist.
Stosic pushes Clark against the cage and then hits him with a big combo. Clark responds with a right hand of his own as the round ends.
Very close round that could go either way.
Swinging!
This one is shaping up to be a good one as we head to round 2️⃣. #UFCStockholm pic.twitter.com/j2NaQCdknP
— UFC (@ufc) June 1, 2019
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Cageside Press scored the round 10-9 for Clark
Round 2:
Clark starts the action with a low kick as the pace has slowed down a bit. he throws a high kick but it is blocked by the European. Clark pops Stosic with a jab and gets a takedown stuffed. They clinch and Stosic pushes Clark against the cage. Stosic lands an elbow on the break.
Back in the center, Clark opens up with a combo which causes Stosic to yell at him to bring it on. Clark shoots for a takedown but it is easily defended.
Suddenly Stosic shoots in on Clark’s legs. He lifts the wrestler in the air. Clark grabs the top of the cage but gets slammed on his back anyway. The rest of the round sees Stosic sitting in Clarks’s guard with a few little punches to the side of the head. The top control does steal him the round.
Cageside Press scored the round 10-9 Stosic
Round 3:
Anybody’s round heading into the last round.
Clark shoots in on a takedown and gets Stosic down, but the European jumps right back to his feet. He underhooks Clark and pushes him against the cage. When they break, Stosic blocks a takedown. Clark shoots in for another double leg but Serbian fighter stuffs the takedown. He shoots once again and misses.
Clark throws up a grazing high kick but gets another takedown block once again. Stosic presses Clark against the cage and drops him to his knees. He pops right up and hits Stosic with a combo. He gets back up with a right hand.
Clark is the much fresher fighter and starts to open up with a combo. Stosic is not throwing much at all. With one minute left, he shoots in on a takedown and gets stuffed once again. He responds with a combo and then stuffs a takedown attempt from Stosic.
The last 20 seconds both fighter’s let their hands go and hit each other pretty hard until the bell rings.
Cageside Press scored the round 10-9 for Clark and the fight 29-28 for Clark
Devin Clark def. Darko Stosic by unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
