Bellator 129 will take place tonight from the Mid-America Center in Council Bluffs, Iowa and the opening bout of the main card broadcast on Spike TV will be a middleweight bout as Davin Clark makes his Bellator debut against Joe Vedepo.
Clark is a product of American Kickboxing Academy (AKA) and along with this being his Bellator debut, this will be his first fight in 839 days as he is coming off a knockout win at World Fighting Federation 9 against Leroy Fornof.
His professional mixed martial arts career began in 2007 but prior to making the move to the sport, he was a college football player. He was introduced to the sport by a friend and ended up being invited to come to American Kickboxing Academy.
“After I finished playing football at Eastern Oregon University, I had a buddy named Jan Michael who encouraged me to try out fighting,” Clark said. “I fought in Oregon as an amateur for a year or so and then spoke to a manager who invited me to come out to AKA. I went out there and tried out, and all the guys out there liked what they saw and told me to come back. So I went back to college and finished up school, and decided to pursue fighting full-time after that. Now I’m in Bellator, looking to do some pretty big things.”
Every fighter has motivation and Clark has several motivations. In fact, he says his motivation is based on four things.
“My motivation all boils down to four things: the first is that I’ve fought throughout my entire life in one way or another, the second being that I have an extreme passion for it – I love everything about fighting – the third is that I have a family that I need to support, and finally — I’m on a mission and I’m hungry,” he said. “I’m hungry for success and I want a title. Those re my ambitions. I want to win. That’s it. It’s plain and simple — I want to win.”
Anytime a fighter does an interview with the media, one of the go-to questions is the strengths of a fighter. For Clark, his strength is very simple. He considers himself a true mixed martial artist.
“My biggest strength as a fighter is the fact that I’m a true mixed martial artist. I didn’t come into the sport as a wrestler or a striker. I learned everything over the course of time. I am a true mixed martial artist. Wherever this fight goes, I’ll be comfortable and prepared in that aspect. Wrestling, striking, kickboxing — you name it.”
He will face Joe Vedepo tonight, who is familiar with the Bellator cage. He has scored three wins in Bellator and two of those victories have come by stoppage. While some fighters may worry about their opponents strengths, Clark looks at it in a different light.
“I don’t really care what Joe Vedepo is good at as a fighter,” Clark said. “As far as his strengths, he’s a tough guy, but everyone is a tough guy and I wouldn’t expect anything else. He can take a bruising and he can go the distance. That’s pretty much it.”
“And I plan on giving him a bruising. I’m prepared to go 15 minutes to give this guy a grueling ass-whooping. May the best man win. If it ends before that? I’m more than happy with that. If it doesn’t, my whole objective is to win and it doesn’t matter how: whether I knock him out, submit him or take him into 15 minutes of deep, deep waters.”
Why should fans tune into this fight tonight?
Fireworks. Davin Clark is fireworks,” Clark said. “If you wanna see fireworks? Watch me fight.”