Jessica “Jessy Jess” Rose-Clark made a successful return to the cage Saturday night, however had her opponent Janay Harding made weight, then the result may have been a lot different.
The bout was promoted to the main event after Abel Brites was forced to go to hospital with stomach issues, leaving Brentin Mumford without an opponent hours before their main event bout.
Eager to get a win on the board before a possible call back to Invicta FC, “Jessy Jess” went down in the opening two rounds before battling back to take the third. As Harding had failed to make weight, the 21-year-old started the bout with a two point deduction which ultimately cost her the bout as “Jessy Jess” took the decision on all three judges’ cards.
Harding took responsibility for not making weight, taking to social media post-fight to apologise.
“Unfortunately Friday night I didn’t make the weight allocated and there’s no excuses for that. Extremely disappointed that I let myself and my team down and I apologise to my opponent with all respect,” Harding posted on her social media
It was the first win since July 2014 for “Jessy Jess” who also believed that the extra weight ended up playing a big part in how the fight played out.
“I won unanimous decision last night after 3 extremely tough rounds. My opponent missed weight by 4kg and I didn’t realise how much difference that would make on the night, fighting a featherweight instead of a bantamweight.”
Also in pro fights on the night, Ty Duncan needed only 33-seconds to secure a guillotine choke submission win over Zachary Hansford while in a flyweight contest Paul Loga and Alby Figueroa put on an entertaining bout with Loga walking with the unanimous decision, 30-27 across the board.
The event took place at the Southport Sharks AFL club in Queensland, Australia.
Results (Pro):
- Jessica Rose-Clark def. Janay Hardin via Decision (Unanimous: 28-27, 28-27, 28-27)
- Ty Duncan def. Zachary Hansford via Submission (Guillotine Choke), Rd 1, 0:33
- Paul Loga def. Alby Figueroa via Decision (Unanimous: 30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
Results (Amateur):
- Corbin Robertson def. Viktor Lyall via Submission (Rear-Naked Choke), Rd 2, 2:41
- Jackson Small def. Matt Loechel via KO (Head Kick), Rd 1, 1:17
- Ryan Winnett def. Ken McAndrew via TKO (Strikes), Rd 2, 0:55
- Darren Habben def. David Hubscher via Decision (Unanimous: 30-27, 30-27, 29-28)
- Joe Marsden def. Daniel Welford via Decision (Unanimous: 30-27, 29-28, 29-28)
- Hoani Selwin def. Travis Robertson via KO (Strikes), Rd 2, 1:21
- Aaron Tau def. Brodie MacLeod via Submission (Guillotine Choke), Rd 1, 1:28
