We love the hustle. Shame he couldn’t last more than 55 seconds, though.
The first fight of the night, as UFC 231 kicked off in Toronto, was the light heavyweight bout between Devin Clark and Aleksandar Rakic.
Later on, Max Holloway and Brian Ortega would serve up ‘Fight of the Night’ in the main event but this wasn’t a bad way to get started.
Clark was 9-2-0 coming into the prelims opener while Serbia’s Rakic was 10-1-0. As far as their records looked, they were not far off.
‘Brown Bear’ was coming off a unanimous decision win over Mike Rodriguez at UFC 223, back in April, and must have been confident that another victory would vault him into top 15 of the rankings.
Before a blow was even exchange, Clark was keen to show Rakic he was more than ready. As the Serb was announced to the crowd, the American started doing manic push-ups in the middle of The Octagon.
Devin Clark is doing pushups on the other side of the octagon while Bruce Buffer introduces Aleksander Rakic. Tonight is off to a hot start! #UFC231
— Mike Bohn (@MikeBohn) December 8, 2018
ARTIST’S IMPRESSION:
Clark knocked out around 20 push-ups in quick succession before popping back up and staring straight at his opponent.
He started the fight well and had Rakic in some early trouble but was somehow allowed to get away with some illegal knees that did some damage.
Amped up and looking to chase after Rakic, Clark left his hands down and copped a spinning back fist to the side of the head. Down he went, after just 50 seconds of fighting, and the ensuing flurry of Rakic punches ended the contest.
"The tide has TURNED!"
Aleksandar Rakic defies adversity with a FIRST round finish! #UFC231 pic.twitter.com/AbzIp2Jvk3
— UFC (@ufc) December 8, 2018
Perhaps Clark should have saved some energy for the fight itself. As for Rakic, that was his third win in a row and you should see him ranked come Monday when the UFC provides an update of their list.
Elsewhere in the prelims, Dhiego Lima scored a stunning walk off KO punch that did for Chad Laprise.
WALK OFF!
On the button, @DhLimaMMA! #UFC231 pic.twitter.com/xc8kyNePbt
— UFC (@ufc) December 9, 2018
There was no getting up from that one.
