Preview: UFC Fight Night 201 Prelims

Women’s Bantamweights

NR | Jessica-Rose Clark (11-6, 4-2 UFC) vs. NR | Stephanie Egger (6-2, 1-1 UFC)

ODDS: Clark (-190), Egger (+160)

Clark has improved a great deal over the course of her decade-long professional career, and she looks to finally be turning that into some momentum. “Jessy Jess” has been on the greater MMA radar since her Invicta Fighting Championships debut back in 2015, but it was hard to peg exactly what she brought to the table for a few years. Clark could do a little bit of everything but was not much of an athlete and seemed deficient as a wrestler, leading to a combination of losses and some narrow wins. That even held true during the first half of her UFC run. Clark got the late-notice call in 2017 for a card in her native Australia, then put together back-to-back wins over Bec Rawlings and Paige VanZant, neither of which resulted in particularly overwhelming performances. Those efforts, plus a subsequent loss to Jessica Eye, made up the entirety of Clark’s aborted run at flyweight due to issues with the scale, but a subsequent move back to 135 pounds has paid dividends in the last few years. In Clark’s last two bouts, she has overwhelmed Sarah Alpar and Joselyne Edwards, surprisingly on the back of a now-solid wrestling game. Clark always seemed conflicted between a passivity and pressure, but between her newfound muscularity as a bantamweight and a commitment to moving forward, everything has clicked into the best form of her career. It may not be the most entertaining approach—the Edwards victory was control-heavy in nature—but it has led to an impressive start that should find some resistance against Egger. Upon her UFC signing in late 2020, Switzerland’s Egger looked to be little more than an aggressive wrestler and grappler—something that held true in an unsuccessful UFC debut against Tracy Cortez, who managed to win those exchanges on the mat. That remains Egger’s bread and butter, but an October win over Shanna Young did provide some hope that she can round out her game into something more dangerous. She looked much more comfortable on the feet on route to what turned into a one-sided victory. That performance alone makes this a much more interesting fight. Egger might be able to neutralize Clark’s newfound wrestling skills, but she figured to be completely overmatched on the feet before showing that striking progress. This still does look like Clark’s fight to lose, as she is a much more imposing physical force than Young, but this is close enough that each woman needs to put in a strong effort if she wants to walk away with a victory. The pick is Clark via decision.

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