Justin Clarke, South Africa’s Professional Fighters League (PFL) Africa MMA heavyweight fighter, has redeemed himself after his first loss, viciously knocking out Senegalese giant Abdoulaye Kane and becoming a top contender for the PFL Africa Heavyweight Championship.
Clarke, 38, took down Kane at the Sunbet Arena in Pretoria on Friday, in what seemed like yet another bad day at the office for him.
After surviving a barrage of punches and knee strikes, which led to a nose injury, Clarke landed a jab that saw one of Africa’s most dangerous heavyweights hit the canvas in the first round.
Kane had also just suffered his first loss.
Clarke sat with the Sunday Times at the CIT Performance Institute in Pretoria where we were greeted by former UFC middleweight champion Dricus du Plessis ahead of their training session.
With a fight record of five wins and one loss, Clarke’s professional MMA career started in 2022 when he was approached by Stephan De La Rey of CIT.
Clarke said he sparred with Du Plessis until he officially switched over to MMA from kickboxing and won every single fight in the local promotion Extreme Fighting Championship.
Second biggest MMA body
His MMA career quickly took a giant leap when he received a call from a CIT agent. He was offered a fight in the heavyweight division of PFL’s first Africa season.
PFL is currently the second biggest MMA organisation in the world after the UFC since it was bought over by MMA promotion Bellator.
When Clarke met his opponent, Jashell Ticha Awa, he noticed that despite him being shorter, his hands were five times bigger. “I wear size XL gloves. He wears 5 XL gloves,” he said.
“I also did some research on him and found out he’s a mechanic. I saw a video of Ticha Awa lifting an engine block with one hand. I saw another one where he grabs a juice in a can and pits his fingers over it and peels off the top and drinks it. And I was asking myself, ‘I must go fight this guy?’”
Clarke, however, won due to a doctor’s stoppage and marched to the semifinals, where he took on Maxwell Djantou Nana, defeating him by a verbal tapout in the third round.
The South African went on to the finals, where he took on Abraham Bably for the heavyweight championship belt, a chance at the global PFL stage and a $100,000 (R1.6m) cash prize.
However, walking into that fight, he said, something felt off.
Out in 21 seconds
“I didn’t feel good. There was just something off in the air, and during my walk-out, the whole time I felt it. And the fight started, and suddenly it was over. A whole year of hard work and being on the receiving end of the big statement. That gutted me.”
Clarke was knocked out in 21 seconds, a viral highlight of the PFL Africa 2025 event.
Undeterred, he accepted an offer to fight in Pretoria after hearing that the PFL would be returning in April. This time, it was Kane in the ring with him. He is taller, heavier, with a 30cm reach advantage.
“He was reacting to some of the stuff I threw, which was nice. Then he started pumping those jabs, and I realised they were heavy jabs but, also, they came from far. Every time I tried to close the distance on what we trained, he would throw another one, and I ate it.”
After creating distance with leg kicks, while absorbing a series of strikes, Clarke went for the final punch, redeeming himself on the same global stage through another viral knockout, this time his own victory, in his hometown, in his own country.
“My sympathy to him. I know how it feels,” he said of his foe.
“I almost cried. I just conquered a giant. I remember being against my back and thinking this is not going to happen again.”
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