Canadian flyweight “MMA Barbie” Shannon Clark is combating this weekend at PFL San Diego, and he or she’s bringing one of the vital unconventional coaching setups within the sport. Clark doesn’t practice out of an MMA fitness center. She trains out of the Lethbridge Police Station in Alberta, the place all her coaching companions are cops who are available early or take lunch breaks to work together with her.
Clark, 32, a mom of two from Lethbridge, Alberta, has a 7-1 skilled file and is combating Ilara Joanne (13-10) from Brazil on Saturday, June 27, at Pechanga Area in San Diego.
MMA Athlete Shannon Clark’s Uncommon Fitness center: The Lethbridge Police Station
When requested about her fitness center, Clark stated, “Sure. The Lethbridge Police Station. So all my coaching companions are simply cops, the boys. None of them struggle. All of them simply practice for his or her job, they usually’re simply massive dudes, truthfully. And so they’re nice. I name them my boys. I’m very, very grateful for them. They kick the [__] out of me. They make me robust.”
Her coaching periods are early. “If these boys are on shift, then these ones come after which, however they work 12-hour shifts. So if they begin at 7:00, we’re coaching at 5:00 or 5:30 within the morning. Like, these guys are available early for me, they usually’re really wonderful.” Some come on off days, or throughout lunch breaks.
Clark’s coach can also be a police officer. Within the offseason, they do issues “different individuals wouldn’t do.” She stated, “We’ve performed jiu-jitsu, and in the midst of a spherical, they’ll simply throw a pretend knife in there and it’s like, ‘Go!’ After which they stab one another to see who does that. I don’t even know if I ought to be saying this… they’d like a plastic gun. Like clearly not actual, proper? Like certainly one of their coaching little issues, and like I simply disguise it in my shorts. So in the midst of it, it’s identical to… I in all probability shouldn’t say any of this, however in any case, it’s simply stuff like that. It’s so totally different than an MMA fitness center.”
Clark works full-time and says combating is “identical to a facet sport. This isn’t my job or profession, which quite a lot of fighters it’s.” She additionally has two children, ages 4 and 5, who’re “nonetheless within the mommy-mommy-mommy stage.” This weekend at PFL San Diego, she faces Joanne, who trains on the Pitbull Brothers fitness center in Fortaleza, Brazil.
Clark says her flexibility is the explanation she’s the place she is: “I don’t suppose I’d have the ability to go like, ‘5:00 p.m. is jiu-jitsu, wrestling’s this present day.’ And even so, I am going to the boxing membership as soon as a every week as effectively. And Rick is wonderful, and we simply do one-on-one and field. And even he’s like, ‘Okay, so what time, what day?’ And we go as soon as every week. And I make actually my total schedule. In order that’s in all probability the one cause why I’m the place I’m is as a result of I’m in a position to do this.”
