Marcin Prachnio got into the win column against Devin Clark in a light heavyweight bout at UFC Vegas 86.
After going 2-4 in his last six, Devin Clark took almost a year off and trained with his old college wrestling program, shoring up his takedown skills to prepare to fight a kickboxing specialist in Prachnio. As for Marcin, he began his UFC career with three straight losses but has since gone 3-2, although he was also coming off of a loss going into this one.
Prachnio used his point kickboxing style from outside to touch Clark up for the first few minutes. Nothing did major damage, but he landed more strikes. Clark shot a double leg two minutes in but a nice sprawl from Prachnio stuffed it. However, Devin did land a good overhand right after that, his biggest punch of the fight. When Prachnio stuck to his kicks, instead of throwing his awkward punches, he was able to land without letting Clark get close to him. Nonetheless, because of the lack of truly damaging strikes the round was close, and could have been scored either way by the judges.
Low kicks were traded for the early stages of round two. Devin Clark tried to shoot a takedown which was stuffed. Right after that, ninety seconds in, Marcin Prachnio truly hurt Clark for the first time, with a wide hook. Clark stumbled backwards to the fence but recovered quickly. However, he appeared to be having a better round two than round one. Clark landed a few right hands in the second half, but the calf kicks of Prachnio began to add up and caused Devin to trip, or his leg to give out, multiple times. Marcin landed a spinning kick partially, but when he went back to the well again he got staggered by a stray spinning backfist from Clark right as the bell sounded.
The final round began with Marcin Prachnio pressuring forward aggressively, even after being hurt to end round three. He caught Devin Clark off balance with a head kick that sat him down; however Devin was not badly hurt, moreso his calf issue was degrading rapidly. In response, Clark landed two good right hands ninety seconds into the round and began to dial in. The pressure forced Devin to fight his best and his straight hitting, mostly 1-2s, worked well.
Two minutes in he stumbled and Prachnio took him down, holding onto the back, but Devin Clark stood right back up. The step-through spinning heel kick of Prachnio had awkward timinig which made it hard for Clark to read, and it landed several times to medium effect. With half the round left, Clark had a takedown stuffed. Marcin took the opportunity to hold his head down in the clinch so that he could land knees to the head. When Clark stood up Prachnio landed the body, giving him the advantage again. However it would not last, as Clark hurt Prachio with a big elbow with just over a minute left. Then it became Marcin’s turn to look exhausted. Prachnio fought on, but the last minute was mostly survival mode for him.
Survive he did, but after leading at points in the round, that final minute made the decision somewhat sketchy, though personally it appeared Prachnio won. It could conceivably have gone either way, but when the judges’ scorecards were read it was who walked out of the UFC Apex with a win, as all three of them gave him 30-27s.
Official Result: Marcin Prachnio def. Devin Clark By Decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
