{"id":596831,"date":"2023-01-12T09:49:36","date_gmt":"2023-01-12T15:49:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.sellorbuyhomefast.com\/index.php\/2023\/01\/12\/zion-clark-fighter-born-without-legs-considers-jon-jones-and-jordan-burroughs-inspirations-in-his-career\/"},"modified":"2023-01-12T09:49:36","modified_gmt":"2023-01-12T15:49:36","slug":"zion-clark-fighter-born-without-legs-considers-jon-jones-and-jordan-burroughs-inspirations-in-his-career","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2023\/01\/12\/zion-clark-fighter-born-without-legs-considers-jon-jones-and-jordan-burroughs-inspirations-in-his-career\/","title":{"rendered":"Zion Clark, fighter born without legs, considers Jon Jones and Jordan Burroughs inspirations in his career"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Zion Clark, who was born without legs due to a rare birth defect known as Caudal Regression Syndrome, has served as an inspiration throughout his life after overcoming odds on his way to becoming a wrestling champion, a Guinness Book of World Records holder, and now a 1-0 mixed martial artist.<\/p>\n

The 25-year-old Ohio native got here through sheer hard work and dedication, but as he continues setting bigger and bigger goals moving forward, he knows he didn\u2019t get anywhere by himself.<\/p>\n

Clark counts his adoptive mother as perhaps his biggest fan, and he\u2019s called Team Bodyshop \u2014 the gym that counts former Bellator champion A.J. McKee<\/a> among its members \u2014 as his home as he made his transition into MMA. But he still remains a fan of other athletes he looked up to when he was hitting the wrestling mats or first becoming interested in fighting professionally. In fact, Clark now considers two of his biggest influences as friends that he can call upon for help whenever he needs it.<\/p>\n

\u201cJon Jones<\/a>, personally. Just how nasty he beat people up,\u201d Clark told MMA Fighting when asked about MMA fighters who inspired him. \u201cI was a young kid and he was the youngest champion. It was just something to idolize. Him and Jordan Burroughs, they just instilled something in me.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow, later down the line, I can just call both of them on the phone and ask for advice or talk to them about life. I\u2019ve got to talk with them personally and pick their brains and work with them on the mat. Just the fact that I\u2019ve been motivated enough to push myself to where I\u2019m on even talking terms with my idols makes it easier to learn from them. It\u2019s just a good feeling.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jones is widely considered one of the greatest MMA fighters of all-time, while Burroughs is an Olympic gold medalist in wrestling and a six-time gold medalist in the World Championships of wrestling.<\/p>\n

As Clark looks to stack accolades on his own r\u00e9sum\u00e9, he admits that it\u2019s still surreal at times to be able to call on Jones and Burroughs as mentors, but ultimately he tries to keep perspective that even his idols are just human beings chasing their dreams.<\/p>\n

\u201cI try to look at people as people,\u201d Clark explained. \u201cDon\u2019t get me wrong, in the back of my brain I\u2019m going nuts, but you\u2019ve got to keep it professional. When you have opportunities to further what you want to do and it stands right in front of you, use it to your advantage. Not saying I\u2019m using Jon Jones or using any of these fighters that I\u2019m working with, but I\u2019ve had the pleasure and I\u2019ve been grateful that they\u2019ve let me in on some insight on what they know so I could further my own career. These guys don\u2019t waste their time. These guys don\u2019t like to waste their time, I don\u2019t waste my time, so if it\u2019s something that\u2019s productive, even if it\u2019s teaching one move.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve learned one move from somebody before and it got me to the national championships. Just looking at it like that, my ears are always open to new ideas, new ways of thinking. Why not learn from everybody instead of just staying under one person? Don\u2019t get me wrong, I train under the Bodyshop, but when I\u2019m not at the Bodyshop, I\u2019m somewhere else.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the future, Clark hopes that he\u2019ll have the chance to actually share the mat with Jones and Burroughs as he continues evolving his own game as a fighter and wrestler.<\/p>\n

While he could have easily chalked up his first professional win in MMA as a bucket list item which would lead to his next athletic endeavor, Clark says he\u2019s now dedicated more than ever to actually turning professional MMA into his career moving forward.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m immersed in the MMA world,\u201d Clark said. \u201cHaving access to a lot of these high up guys to learn from them, that\u2019s the easy part. It\u2019s just, do they believe that I have enough heart or do they believe that I\u2019m actually committed to immersing myself into this and actually going through with it? I\u2019m not trying to prove that to them, but I\u2019m trying to prove that to myself time and time again.<\/p>\n

\u201cFighting isn\u2019t easy. MMA isn\u2019t easy. And doing it on this level that I\u2019m doing it, it\u2019s even harder. I\u2019m excited to see where this is about to take me.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Read More<\/a> Damon Martin<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Zion Clark, who was born without legs due to a rare birth defect known as Caudal Regression Syndrome, has served as an inspiration throughout his life after overcoming odds on his way to becoming a wrestling champion, a Guinness Book of World Records holder, and now a 1-0 mixed martial artist. The 25-year-old Ohio native<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":596832,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2647,25284,3790],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-596831","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-clark","8":"category-fighter","9":"category-football"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/596831","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=596831"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/596831\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/596832"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=596831"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=596831"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=596831"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}