Heather Clark could be out six to eight months after ACL surgery. | Keith Mills/Sherdog.com
Heather Clark plans on having ACL surgery following her unanimous decision triumph over Bec Rawlings at "The Ultimate Fighter 20" finale.
“Anyone who has watched my career knows that I like to throw a lot of kicks, but tonight I didn’t throw any,” Clark said. “I hurt my leg while taping the show, and I just never trusted it enough during camp. On the 17th of this month I’ll have surgery on the ACL, and I’ll be out six to eight months.”
After a strong start over the bout’s opening 10 minutes, Clark had to hold off a hard-charging Rawlings in the final frame. The Aussie got the better of the majority of the exchanges in the period, outlanding her foe 44-to-28 in significant strikes, according to FightMetric.com.
Despite that final flurry, Clark was able to hold on.
“My eye started closing so I tried to just survive that 3rd round. I knew I had won the first 2 rounds so I was just trying not to do something stupid, like get KO’ed,” Clark said.
The XFC veteran has won two straight fights to improve to 7-4 as a professional. Clark has big plans in mind when she recovers from surgery.
“When I come back, I think I’m one of the top girls in this division, and I think I deserve a top five girl,” she said.