New PFL signee, Shannon Clark, is eager to get to work. After signing back at the end of 2025, she was waiting for the ability to announce the signing and then also waiting for a fight announcement. That time wasn’t wasted as she was right back to work in the gym, getting better for whatever did come.
Her training situation has always been a unique one. She trains in a gym full of policemen in her home of Lethbridge, Alberta. However, for this training camp, she stretched her wings a bit to get some new looks.
“I’m still training with the police boys. They’re still my number one team, but actually I leave for New Jersey. I found a gym out there and I’m training,” Clark explained. “I got eight days [at CULTR Fight Club] training. So I went out there in January to try it out, see what I like about the gym and fell in love – did not want to leave.”
A big part of that love for her new home-away-from-home was having some training partners who are the same size as her. Not only that, but the intensity that the gym brought helped to bring out a new level in her as well.
“It was a really cool experience to go to a gym that had people my size that had actual fighters like it was just just a completely different look,” she said. “[Ana Martinez] just won [the Fury FC flyweight title] and she’s a badass. She trains really hard, which is not something I’m exactly used to, so it’s really awesome.”
As the fight neared, CULTR also brought in some UFC level talent to work with Clark. She closed up camp with some solid rounds, which you would think would bring a new level of confidence to the most modest fighter in MMA. If you do think that, though, you don’t really know Shannon Clark.
“Hopefully [it ends] with a win,” she said with a nervous laugh. “That’s all. I don’t know how, but I just hope I win.”
You can catch the fruits of Clark’s new labors as part of the PFL San Diego prelims as she faces Ilara Joanne. The fight card begins at 7pm EST this Saturday.
