Shannon Clark (right) has been named Canada’s 2022 MMA Female Fighter of the Year. (Photo: Kennedy Photography)

By Sarah Jones

Lethbridge local takes home the title of Canada’s 2022 MMA Female Fighter of the Year

Jan 7, 2023 | 7:00 AM

LETHBRIDGE, AB – Shannon Clark has been crowned Canada’s 2022 MMA (Mixed Martial Arts) Female Fighter of the Year.

The Lethbridge local was shocked to discover she had been given the award, as she had only found out about her win through social media.

Clark was working out at the gym when her phone began to blow up with texts and calls. She admits that she ignored them at first, but when she looked down at her phone, she was met with numerous congratulations on her new title.

While she wasn’t aware of the award, she said that she is honoured to have received such a distinction in her first year of professional mixed martial arts fighting.

Clarke told LNN, “It’s a really good feeling. I’m not going to lie, I didn’t even really know they did stuff like that, but no, it’s really cool. It makes me want to work really hard in 2023.”

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Shannon Clark winning her second professional MMA match against Jo Maisonneuve. (Photo: Kennedy Photography)

The former University of Lethbridge (U of L) athlete began her fighting career while in her off-season as a soccer player with the Pronghorns in 2019.

She started by attending afternoon and evening classes at CMC MMA Centre in Lethbridge.

“I was really just doing it to stay in shape and it was just a lot of fun. Get some aggression out,” Clark laughed.

After completing her scholarship with the U of L Pronghorns and finishing her degree, she decided she wanted to try her hand in an amateur MMA fight.

She upped her training and was curious to find out how she would fare in a single match.

“It’s kind of led me to this point, where I was like ‘well, one more fight’. Maybe I just got lucky, and then I was like, ‘well one more fight’,” Clark explained. “Then it was, ‘okay, well now I’m pro so let me do one pro fight’ and then I got a contract.”

“I’m like, ‘well we’ll see now where this goes’,” she added.

Shannon Clark has been training at the CMC MMA Centre in Lethbridge since 2019. (Photo: Kennedy Photography)

Clark’s first professional MMA match up was at Rumble in the Cage in Lethbridge in October 2022, she faced off against Jackie Maclean who held three wins and one loss. At 1:50 in the third round, Clark won by a TKO (Technical Knockout) punch.

Not only did Clark win her first fight, but she was able to do so in her hometown surrounded by a mountain of support.

“It was amazing,” described Clark. “It was probably the best feeling out of all my fights so far. I think just being from Lethbridge, I had so many people there that knew me, that were cheering me on, and I could really feel the energy in there. It was unreal.”

Before she knew it, she was facing off in her second pro match just a few months later in Edmonton.

In December 2022 at the Unified MMA 49 event, Clark hopped in the cage against Jo Maisonneuve, which resulted in another TKO win in the second round.

While still relatively new to the world of professional MMA, Clark carried on, saying that she prefers the fighting rules compared to competing in an amateur ring.

Shannon Clark facing off against Jo Maisonneuve in December 2022 at the Unified MMA 49 event. (Photo: Kennedy Photography)

Clark went on, “For example, when you’re sitting on top of them and you’re hitting them [the opponent], certain conditions would only let you hit their bodies, you can’t hit their face and do that if you’re amateur.”

“No elbows, no kneeing to the face, whereas when you turn pro, you get to do all that and I try and take advantage of that,” she explained. “I quite enjoy doing that stuff, I’d rather hit than do the ground jiu-jitsu stuff, so it works in my favour I think sometimes.”

Heading into 2023, Clark is taking a few months off to hone her skills and learn new techniques, while playing with the Pronghorns Alumni Soccer Team, and spending time with her husband, two children and three dogs.

She gave a massive shout out to her husband, mom and dad, the owner of CMC, Lee Mien, and her coach, Joel Odorski, for all their support.

“He truly is a one-of-a-kind person [Odorski], and I’m truly thankful to have him as my coach.”

While Clark will be catching up on home life for the first part of 2023, it’s likely she will be back in the cage by April or May for her next fight.

READ MORE: LethbridgeNewsNow.