This coming Saturday at Bellator 299, Irish prospect Ciaran Clarke was scheduled to make his debut in his new weight class of 135lbs, but just a few days out from the scheduled fight, the bout was changed to 140lb catchweight.
Originally the move down to bantamweight came at a surprise, as Clarke has previously fought at as high as a 149.2lb catchweight. Despite that, Clarke admitted that he was ‘gutted’ to learn that his bout was changing to another catchweight bout, as he was excited to make the cut to bantamweight for the first time.
“The opponent didn’t change but this is actually at 140lbs now. Ten days out I got the news but it gets like that. I was gutted, I wanted to make 135 because this is actually the third fight that I haven’t fought in a weight class.
“Kind of gutted I wanted to see how it’d be, I just wanted to make the weight but it doesn’t matter, everything happens for a reason and I’m feeling good,” Clarke said.
Despite the move down to bantamweight being a surprise for everyone else, Clarke explained the reasons as to why he wanted to move down to a new weight class.
“First of all I knew I could make it. Back in November 2021 I was getting really light so I knew I could make it as well as sizing myself up to other people. The second reason is because I’m fighting a bigger man every time in there you can see it, I’m definitely giving up 10lbs.”
Unfortunately for Clarke, this camp isn’t going to be the one to decide how he feels at bantamweight, but with him being an active fighter, the opportunity will soon come.
Clarke takes on Polish fighter, Przemyslaw Gorny, at Bellator 299, who will be making his promotional debut on enemy territory.
Check out the full Bellator 299 media day with Ciaran Clarke above.
