Mitch Clarke makes his debut in the UFC octagon on Saturday at UFC 140. PHOTO BY FRED LUM/THE GLOBE AND MAILFred Lum/The Globe and Mail
Mitch 'Danger Zone' Clarke is looking to bring a bit of Prairie pride into the Octagon.
The 26-year-old unbeaten lightweight, who believes he's the first Saskatchewan-born fighter to crack the UFC, makes his debut this Saturday at UFC 140 against American John Cholish.
A former collegiate wrestler, Clarke took up MMA after watching a VHS copy of the Ultimate Ultimate and Ultimate Ultimate 2 shows from 1995 and '96.
"I knew I wanted to fight because I love competing," he said. "But I never thought I'd fight in the UFC.
"It's one of those things — you dream about it but you never actually think it's going to possibly materialize. And that sounds bad but at the same time you try to be realistic. You see so many guys fight for so long and never make it there. For it to happen to me, it's so crazy."
Winning nine straight tends to turn heads, however. He also held welterweight titles with the Evolution Fighting Championships (EFC) and The Fight Club (TFC) organizations.
"I'm not that typical fighter guy," he added. "I'm a little bit nerdy. I don't look like a fighter, I look like I should fix computers.
"I have that kind of Canadian sense of humour, almost self-deprecating at times. I think it was just something different — I think that's possibly what drew them to me."
Saturday's fight at Air Canada Centre could be a battle of the brains.
Cholish (7-1) has a degree in applied economics and management from Cornell and works as a commodities broker, focusing on natural gas and crude oil options and futures, when not cage-fighting.
These days Clarke trains out of Edmonton, thanks to his former day job. After studying environmental science at the University of Saskatchewan, he took a job with Alberta Environment.
As environmental protection officer, he checked pipelines and followed up on complaints.
"Then the recession hit and I just started training full time," he said.
Clarke's heart will always be in Saskatchewan, however.
"I miss Saskatoon, just because of the small-city feel. I like friendly people," he explained. "If you're walking down the street and you give a friendly nod to someone, they're not going to try to stab you with a sharpened toothbrush."
Clarke took karate, taekwondo and did some boxing before falling in love with wrestling in high school. He wrestled for two years in university and some club teams afterwards before MMA took over.
He started training at Champion Fight Club in Saskatoon, one of many gyms he used in a bid to widen his skills. Soon MMA had overtaken wrestling — Clarke was competing at a much lighter weight and wasn't enjoying it.
"I was being really hard on my body in terms of how many calories I was putting in, how hard I was working. I didn't look like an athlete, I looked like this sickly person," he said.
"It was nice to kind of make that switch (to MMA)."
Clarke took part in various grappling and Pankration tournaments before making his pro MMA debut in May 2007.
He was training for another fight in Lloydminster — against either Junie Browning or Marc Stevens, both alumni of "The Ultimate Fighter" — some three months ago when he got the call from the UFC to take part in the Toronto show.
"It just kind of floored me," he said.
Cholish, who has won seven straight since losing his pro debut in September 2007, beat Stevens two fights ago. He trains jiu-jitsu in New York under Renzo Gracie.
"He's a good fighter, a very smart fighter and I think that's where we're similar," said Clarke. "We're both tacticians."
He wasn't always that way. Clarke remember his first opponent, Jase Nibourg, missing weight and then shaking him off when he tried to touch gloves at the start of the fight.
"I took him down and elbowed his face into oblivion," Clarke said of the 90-second victory.
Clarke also likes Cholish's sense of honour, pointing to a cat named Walter — a fact gleaned from Twitter, apparently.
After losing his government job, Clarke taught martial arts and worked in bars to support himself but now focuses on training and fighting.
He prepared for this fight in Edmonton and in Victoria at Zuma, the gym that is home to Strikeforce fighter Sarah Kaufman.
A former welterweight, he cuts down from 190 to 155 to make lightweight for his last two fights.
"I felt awesome at that weight," Clarke said.
He has six submission wins but says his standup game has improved in the leadup to the fight.
The nickname comes from a T-shirt made up by his Dad — "my biggest fan."
It had a caricature of Clarke in a cage with the words "Welcome to the Danger Zone."
Training partner Victor (The Professor) Bachman liked how it sounded.
"Because I disliked it, it seems to have stuck," Clarke said cheerfully.
He is looking forward to hearing it in the cage Saturday night, however.
The last time he was at a UFC event was as a spectator for UFC 114 in May 2010 in Las Vegas. This time he plans to savour being centre stage, even if it is on the undercard.
"It's going to be crazy but I need to enjoy the moment because that's what a lot of fighters, I think, tend to forget."
He's planning to use some Canadian music as his soundtrack, with Doug and the Slugs a possible choice.