“I listen to way too many serial killer podcasts to stop at a truck stop at night. Hell no.”
Just because Jessica-Rose Clark is a professional mixed martial arts (MMA) fighter in Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) doesn’t mean she doesn’t have relatable fears like everyone else.
“Jessy Jess” returns to action this weekend (Sat., July 2, 2022) at UFC 276 against Lithuania’s Julija Stoliarenko. With 19 career fights in her back pocket, Clark looks for a big rebound 12th victory in fight No. 20.
An avid traveler on the road, the 34-year-old Australian accepted the bout offer a few months back literally as she was returning home from a big cross-country U.S. road trip. Usually on the move with just her two dogs, Clark always prefers to stay ready so she never has to get ready in case of emergencies.
“I stop at gas stations and rest stops, things like that. Very rarely through the night,” Clark told MMA Mania. “I’ll always stop and kind of sleep during the day so I can drive all the way through the night cause I listen to way too many serial killer podcasts to stop at a truck stop at night. Hell no.
“Even when I was driving back from Montana and I had to stop to get fuel, it was like 3 am and I was in literally the middle of rural northern California so I called someone and was like, ‘Just be on the phone with me while I stop to get fuel,’” she continued. “Then, funnily enough, the person I called was like, ‘You listen to way too many serial killer podcasts.’ Dude, I’m a single female who’s always by herself, and not only that, I don’t have my dogs with me right now so I don’t even have my usual line of defense. I’m legitimately by myself so if I got f—kin’ murdered in the middle of rural northern California, you’d be like, ‘She wasn’t playing safe. Wasn’t safe enough. Why didn’t she call someone if she had to stop?’ F—k off, man. Anyway, I didn’t get stabbed (laughs).”
On a lighter and less uncontrollable side of the spectrum, Clark never intends on skydiving and feels sick just thinking about it. However, it still doesn’t top the list of things most feared as that spot belongs to something simpler and more family-oriented.
“I don’t ever want there to be a day when my mom shakes her head at me in disappointment,” Clark said. “I think that’s it. I don’t want there to be a day where my mom feels shame at me being her kid. I think that’s my biggest fear.
“I know it’s so unfounded because it’s not in my nature to ever do any of the things that could make her feel that way about me but that’s definitely a pretty big one,” she concluded. “F—k, imagine if it did. God damn.”
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