Preview: UFC on ABC 4 Prelims

Women’s Bantamweights

Jessica-Rose Clark (11-8, 4-4 UFC) vs. Tainara Lisboa (5-2, 0-0 UFC)

ODDS: Clark (-120), Lisboa (+100)

It has been a surprisingly rough time for Clark recently. “Jessy Jess” got on the greater MMA radar early in her career with a stint in Invicta Fighting Championships, but it took a while until her game coalesced into much of anything. Even after hitting the UFC in 2017, she struggled to fight behind one particular standout skill or even find a consistent weight class, resulting in a lot of close performances that also seemed to give her a clear ceiling. That made it a pleasant development when the Aussie started to fight behind a much more consistent pressure game that included a lot of newfound wrestling skill, leading her to one-sided wins over Sarah Alpar and Joselyne Edwards that figured to lead to better things. However, what appeared to be a blessing turned out to be more of a curse. Clark’s wrestling led her right into getting submitted by Stephanie Egger, and things similarly went south in short order for another armbar loss to Julija Stoliarenko, which saw her suffer an injury that has kept her out of action for nearly a year. Clark looks to find some of her lost momentum against a Brazilian newcomer in Lisboa, who fits in with the UFC’s recent approach of signing anyone with a winning record and letting things shake out from there. Lisboa comes from a muay thai background, which does not come across in most of her recent footage; instead, she has outwrestled and outgrappled a low level of regional competition. None of it reads as particularly translatable to UFC-level opposition, at least in the short term, though Lisboa has shown enough grappling that Clark could be at risk with another defensive lapse. Still, this looks like a fight that Clark can grind out, even if it likely will not be exciting in the process. The pick is Clark via decision.

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Clark vs. Lisboa