International Fight Week’s three-day trifecta of fight cards will be kicking off with UFC Fight Night: Dos Anjos vs. Alvarez on July 7, 2016 and finishing up with mega event UFC 200 on July 9, 2016. Among those competing during this illustrious fight week will be UFC lightweight ‘Danger Zone’ Mitch Clarke and his UFC Fight Night 90 main card matchup ‘Irish‘ Joe Duffy.
Bloody Elbow caught up with Clarke to discuss his preparation for Duffy and how the switching of camps to Jackson-Wink in Albuquerque, New Mexico has made a difference.
Interview: “Danger Zone” Mitch Clarke UFC FN 90 **AUDIO ONLY**
Clarke explained why he selected Jackson-Wink MMA to play host to his fight camp for Irish Joe:
“I kind of needed to change things up personally in terms of I needed to be a little bit more selfish and get a little bit more personal attention. They have such a staff at Jackson-Wink. I talked to a couple of coaches and they said come on down. It’s the damaged received rate. Their big thing is preventing over training so the big focus was just getting the best out of me we could.”
via Mitch Clarke
Danger Zone reflected on his previous bout, a unanimous decision loss to Michael Chiesa at UFC Fight Night 63:
“The focus of what to do wasn’t there. The coaching staff at the time was like ‘just go out there and go fight. You’re the better fighter.’ I whole heartedly believed that but I didn’t have like a set game plan of what I was going to do. I think that led to that chaos and led to him getting on my back so easily. In between the second and third they were like ‘hey, we need to go out and go finish him. Finish him with your hands’. I hurt him a couple of times and moved a lot. I was being aggressive and doing what I was needed to do. Unfortunately, I couldn’t put him away.”
It is no surprise that the Canadian Clarke had a plethora of pleasant words for his opponent Joseph Duffy:
“You can’t go in there and expect to like smash through his grappling because he’s a kickboxer. He’s a good grappler too. He’s got good boxing, he moves well and he’s confident. The big thing is being as smart as possible… It’s about putting it all together and being the best me I can.”
Watch UFC lightweight Danger Zone Mitch Clarke take on Irish Joe Joseph Duffy at UFC Fight Night 90: Dos Anjos vs. Alvarez on July 7, 2016. Stay tuned to Bloody Elbow for full event and International Fight Week coverage including betting odds, previews, live play-by-play, results, highlights, and more! Video of this interview can be seen at the top of the page.
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