Exclusive: Jessica Rose-Clark Believes Paige Vanzant Is Undersized For 125-Pounds

MMA

Jessica Rose-Clark jumped on her opportunity for a UFC debut on short notice just last month. Now she's facing one of the UFC's most-pushed stars in Paige VanZant.

Rose-Clark defeated Bec Rawlings last month in Sydney, and didn't waste much time taking another fight. A two month turnaround sees the Australian returning much sooner than the March date she'd originally anticipated. When speaking to Fightful.com's James Lynch, Rose-Clark 

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"I don't think she realizes how big some of the 125ers are. But she's not a big 115, so I don't understand why she's going to Flyweight. I think it'll be fun. She's very tough and scrappy. She throws weird stuff and I love that. She's very unpredictable. I'm excited," said Rose-Clark.

Taking a short notice fight and immediately following it with another booking is a necessary evil, according to Rose-Clark.

"It's kind of a catch 22. The more active you are, the less time you have to recover. She's had a lot of time off, she'll probably be feeling pretty refreshed. I'm not injured, so I don't feel like I've fought as many times as I have in the last year. If she was 45, she might have some trouble coming back, but she's young," said Rose-Clark.

Jessica told us that in addition to working at Syndicate MMA for the fight, she's also brought in a 10th Planet coach to help her out too. She's predicting a second round finish, planning to overcome Paige VanZant's high pace and output. 

In the full interview, Jessica Rose-Clark (8-4-1 NC) discusses her upcoming fight against Paige VanZant (7-3) at UFC Fight Night 124 on Jan. 14. Jessica also talks about how she got into MMA, her training camp for this fight, the difficulties dating as a professional fighter and her love for "The Office" 

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