Glamorous Aussie UFC star reveals she spent six years fighting the world’s toughest women while addicted to booze: ‘I used to be a bad alcoholic’
- Jessica-Rose Clark talks about her problems with alcoholism
- Addiction started at age 19 when her grandmother passed away
- Clark realised she needed to get sober after losing big UFC fight
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Aussie UFC fighter Jessica-Rose Clark has talked openly about how she spent years struggling with her addiction to alcohol and drugs while fighting some of the toughest women on the planet.
The Brisbane bantamweight, 34, says the crippling addiction began after a tragedy in her family saw her turn to alcohol to ‘run away from my problems’.
‘I didn’t start drinking until I was 19 when my grandma died,’ she admitted on powerlifter Mark Bell’s Power Project Podcast.
Jessica-Rose Clark (pictured at UFC 276 in Las Vegas, Nevada earlier this year) somehow managed to forge a career in the octagon despite being an alcoholic
Clark has opened up about her addiction to booze, which began at age 19 when her grandmother died
‘When my grandma died, I spiralled. And I was working in nightclubs for a long time back in Australia. People would always give me free drugs.
‘I would get free drinks. I managed nightclubs – and everyone was like, “Let us in, I’ll give you a bag of pills.”‘
Always athletically gifted, Clark found kickboxing when she was 23, which led to her career in mixed martial arts kicking off in 2012.
But she never could kick her battle with the booze until it started really impacting her fighting career four years ago.
‘I went sober in July 2018 – it was because I lost a fight. I fought Jessica Eye on UFC Singapore and that whole camp I was so unhappy. So I drank the whole camp.
Clark struggled with alcoholism for the first six years MMA career – finally going sober after losing a fight in 2018
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Clark has been sober for four years and says she has replaced her addiction to booze with an addiction to her sport
‘The only time I didn’t drink was in fight week.
‘I lost that and went, man, I’ve got to make some changes. The first thing that went was alcohol – so I’ve been four years sober now.’
Clark believes her MMA training has been the key to avoiding a relapse.
‘Fighting gave me something to channel that energy into. I don’t know, it’s so addictive that it replaces whatever it was that created the addiction to alcohol,’ she explained.
‘The way I was able to go sober was focusing on fighting … setting goals within fighting that became bigger than my desire to drink alcohol.’
Clarke said she used alcohol to run away from her problems throughout her adult life – until everything changed for her four years ago
The Aussie striker says addiction issues are very common within the MMA community, with many other athletes having similar stories to her own.
Clark’s last outing in the Octagon saw her lose by a painful first-round arm-bar which landed her in hospital when her elbow was snapped by Julija Stoliarenko in the first round at UFC 276.
Despite the crushing defeat, Clark has vowed to return stronger than ever.
The determined Queenslander is just glad she doesn’t have to deal with the problems that alcohol brings.
‘My life got so much better when I quit drinking. It really did take that loss,’ she said.
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