Devin Clark used his wrestling to dominate Dequan Townsend en route to a decision win at UFC Rio Rancho.
Light heavyweights were a big part of UFC Rio Rancho. The division topped the card, in a thinly veiled attempt to find a contender worthy of Jon Jones. Earlier on in the night, another pair of athletes threw down at 205lbs, as Devin Clark took on Dequan Townsend.
Townsend had stepped into the fight in place of Gadzhimurad Antigulov. Both men were coming off losses; Townsend, in fact, had lost both his UFC outings to date, making Saturday a must-win affair for him.
Devin Clark landed a big leg kick on Townsend to open the fight. Townsend put him on the back foot and looked to establish the jab, and Clark went upstairs with a head kick. Clark shot in for a takedown along the fence, then got the trip for the takedown briefly, but Townsend was quickly back up. The referee would separate the two out of the clinch, and Clark would get a massive takedown out of the break. Clark worked his way to mount and ended the round on top dropping elbows.
Townsend opened the second round aggressive, again putting Clark on the backfoot. Townsend shot forward and landed a combination that landed clean, and Clark responded with a big level change takedown. Clark was dominating since that takedown, spending the entire second round on top. He was extremely heavy on top, and Townsend had no answer to get Clark off of him. A tremendous ground display by Clark in round two gave him the edge heading into the final round.
Townsend’s corner was aggressive heading into round three, telling him he needed to let his hands go. Townsend fought as such. He opened round three aggressive, looking to get into range but Clark was doing a good job of staying on the outside. Once again, Clark would get a big takedown and end up in the guard of Townsend. Clark was landing heavy to the body as Townsend was making no effort to get up. Clark ended the round on top throwing elbows and putting the finishing touches on a dominant performance.
Official Result: Devin Clark def. Dequan Townsend by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-26, 30-26)
