Jessica-Rose Clark anticipates elbow surgery, says Julija Stoliarenko held armbar after tap at UFC 276

UFC bantamweight Jessica-Rose Clark anticipates surgery to repair her damaged elbow following a brutal armbar loss to Julija Stoliarenko at UFC 276.

Clark, who said she spent three hours in a Las Vegas hospital with her coach, indicated her opponent was to blame for the extent of the damage, telling fans “she did a really good job of continuing to armbar me after I tapped.”

“But that’s fine, it is what is,” a visibly emotional Clark said in a video posted Saturday on her Instagram account. “I felt great. I still cried the entire time I was at the hospital, but I feel alright.

“I am understandably heartbroken, but I did everything right this camp.”

Clark suffered her second straight loss by armbar after a first-round submission to Stephanie Eggar in her previous performance, which took place in February at UFC Vegas 48.

In her post-win interview, Stoliarenko, who picked up her first UFC win in four tries, said she had trained to crank submissions to their completion and indicated Clark was at fault for not tapping earlier.

“If I get submission, I’m going to snap it,” she said.

The 34-year-old Aussie said she would undergo surgery and work on her takedown defense to come back better and avoid such a result. She said the experience of fighting at T-Mobile Arena was “honestly one of the best experiences of my life” and dismissed retirment outright.

“I wish I could have won,” she said. “But I’m not done. I’m going to come back and try again, and I’m going to do better.”

With her arm immobilized in a sling, Clark joked her first task was figuring out how to get out of her UFC uniform. She thanked her supporters and added a message of defiance for social media critics.

“For those of you messaging me telling me you lost money, I lost half a paycheck, so go f*** yourselves,” she said.