Josh Bennett VS. Mychal Clark

This one seemed like the classic “tubby white guy” against “limber black dude” upon first sight.

Indeed, Bennet started in slow and steady while Clark bounced around like a crazy man. A first volley of strikes seemed to stun Bennett but he recovered quickly. They clinched briefly, Bennett nearly landing a good knee, and then they separated. The boxing that followed seemed to favour Clark, who landed 4-5 good smacking hits. But Bennett was hardly out, absorbing all these blows with only the slightest hint of exhaustion.

They finally fell to the ground, Clark apparently willing it that way. Nothin’ was doin’, so they struggled to their feet and resumed the boxing. Round one ended with fan energy about as exacerbated as Bennett’s right eye, which was ballooning grotesquely.

Round two saw Clark attempt a flying knee, which Bennett caught and used to shove Clark away. They clinched and struck the cage wall, where Bennett pushed Clark’s head down and delivered three knees to the face that unfortunately didn’t do much damage. They struggled in the clinch for some time, both fighters delivering equal strikes, until Bennett dropped Clark to the ground and achieved half-mount. There, Clarke started to look tired, allowing Bennett to take full mount.

It only lasted for a split-second as Clark, seeing the trouble he was in, rolled out from under the bigger man but eventually slipped into a guillotine choke. Clark escaped that too and took the half-mount, but the round ended with little else of note.

Round three didn’t start: Josh Bennett’s eye had swollen shut (it looked like a crab-apple) and the physician called an end to the due to technical knockout.