Man with no legs wins his debut MMA fight
A man who has no legs has won his first MMA bout against an able-bodied fighter after claiming that he would deliver a ‘brutal’ finish.
Zion Clark is a 25-year-old former college-level wrestler who was born without legs because of a birth disorder.
Despite that, he’s become a professional athlete – who even has dreams of competing in the Olympics one day – and won his first ever paid bout last night.
You can see some of the highlights of his fight below:
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Fighting against a man called Eugene Murray at a promotion event called Gladiator Challenge: Seasons Beatings, Clark delivered an unanimous decision victory at the Valley Center in San Diego, California.
On top of his success in collegiate wrestling and his burgeoning MMA career, Clark also holds the Guinness World Record for the fastest time to walk 20 metres using only hands.
He also skateboards, plays the drums, and earns a living as a motivational speaker.
A man of many talents, you’ll surely agree.
During the three-round fight, Clark managed to utilise his skills as a wrestler to take down and outwork Murray over the distance of the fight.
His incredible story has been told before in the documentary entitled Zion, which explains how he overcame bullying and adversity to get to where he is now.
Zion was born in Ohio and was in the foster care system for years before eventually finding success.
Speaking before his fight, he told Fox News: "I'm not exceptional because I don't have legs and I'm an athlete,
"I'm exceptional because I have a drive and I live by the mantra ‘No excuses’ and I push myself forward every day."
That mantra of ‘no excuses’ is tattooed on Clark’s back, so he’ll never forget it.
Before his career debut in MMA, he also explained how he’s been preparing by utilising everything he learned in wrestling.
Describing his approach as ‘the same as it was wrestling’, Clark explained: "I just wrestle against able-bodied people, and I beat able-bodied people.
"Now I'm fighting able-bodied people, and I'm gonna knock out able-bodied people.
“It's as simple as that. I'm a fighter."
He certainly is.
However, his promise to deliver a ‘brutal’ end to the fight didn’t end up coming off.
He had said: "I'm trying to run this s**t up! It's not just a rinky-dink fight. This s**t's going on pay-per-view. This s**t is a legit sanctioned fight. It's gonna be big!
"I'm here to rip his throat out and put on a show for the crowd."
In the end, he probably won’t mind because he managed to get the win, and that’s really all that matters.
We’ll just have to see what happens next and what fight Clark decides to take on in the future.
With any luck, UFC chief Dana White was watching his debut and has plans for him.
Tom Wood