Professional Fighters League (PFL) Africa heavyweight Justin Clarke initially pursued his natural talent in art by earning a degree in the field, unaware that the hands that sketched perfect portraits would end up knocking out heavyweights in mixed martial arts.
Sunday Times walked in to the CIT Performance Institute in Pretoria where he trains to find former UFC middleweight champion Dricus du Plessis warming up for their morning training session.
Seated on a workout bench behind the MMA champ was Clarke with a phone in his hands — the same hands that had knocked down a towering Abdoulaye Kane just over a week before.
Representing South Africa in his hometown Pretoria, the 1.9m tall Clarke took down Kane in the first round at the Sunbet Arena with a sudden knockout that left the crowd on its feet, cheering in surprise and excitement.
Clarke was representing South Africa once again in PFL Africa’s second season this year, after he lost the chance to win the heavyweight title at the inaugural tournament last year.
But as a young boy born in KwaZulu-Natal and growing up in Swaziland as his parents moved due to work, he found that he was good at art.
I didn’t see it as a heavyweight nor worry about how I was going to make it.
— Justin Clarke
“I have always been good at art,” he told Sunday Times.
“When I got to high school, and it came to picking subjects, I chose biology and art. Biology because I enjoy the human body — that is one passion I have, which led me to the fitness industry, and I chose art because I enjoyed art.”
Clarke stopped karate because his parents moved from Swaziland (where he trained in Kyokushin) to Mozambique.
He returned to South Africa in 2003 to finish high school in Limpopo and went on to study information design at the University of Pretoria.
But while studying, Clarke developed a dedication to training and exercise and spent a lot of time in the gym, giving free advice to other gym members.
He also took part in koshuis (hostel) rugby at the university, but failed to make the first team as he caught malaria in Mozambique while visiting his parents a month before the team was selected.
“As much as I enjoyed art and design, it was not my true passion. I enjoy training and sports, so I decided not to waste my parents’ money and completed my degree.
“One day, when I have more time, I can go back to art. I had a passion for sport and would read up on it and would advise people.
“I then realised I can make a living by giving people such advice” he said.
He began personal training and amateur strong man and powerlifting.
Clarke loved the challenge of pushing his body and mind as he joined the gym with the intention of getting big and strong.
“I didn’t see it as a heavyweight nor worry about how I was going to make it. The exact thought pattern on an empty bar is the same as if I had 300kg and you trust your technique to get you through,” he said.
He suffered a squatting injury while prepping for nationals. While warming up, he went up to 260kg and ignored the pain in his back and that’s how the injury happened.
“Then I squatted and funny enough something went wrong with my back and I finished the rep with a skewed back.
“Apparently, I had herniated several discs in my back. This required 16 weeks of physio and recovery and all sorts of treatment,” Clarke said.
But he remembered a specific karate move that would help loosen his tight back and hamstrings — the axe kick — which he would do while lying on his back.
He started to miss karate and decided to join a dojo, but found kickboxing instead, which he signed up for.
A determined Clarke felt that the training could not be for nothing and that he had to compete.
He bravely signed up for “full contact” kickboxing, meaning he would be up against an opponent in a ring.
Clarke continued with kickboxing for nine years and represented South Africa three times overseas while continuing to research and do his own strength and conditioning training by himself while his kickboxing coach focused on the kickboxing techniques.
In 2019, Clarke caught the attention of Stephan de la Rey of CIT Performance Institute who approached him to try MMA.
While he gave it a try and injured his shoulder after being thrown into wrestling, his sights remained on kickboxing, even after the Covid-19 lockdown.
“I was looking for a professional fight since 2019 until I stopped. I got an offer right before joining MMA but I declined because I had already made the mind shift.
“Eventually, in 2022, I was training for a Muay Thai fight and I would go to CIT on weekends and spar with Dricus (Du Plessis).”
It was Morné Visser, who is currently Du Plessis’ coach, who made Clarke accept that kickboxing was no longer the same in the country and that MMA was more suitable for the heavyweight.
“Clarke joined CIT in January 2023 and was quickly catapulted to the local Extreme Fighting Championship (EFC), with a live audience, cameras and lights, where he made his debut in May 2024.
Professional MMA – from EFC to the PFL Africa
“Coming from kickboxing for about nine years, I had every bit of confidence in my kickboxing and stand-up ability, but being new to wrestling and only wrestling the people in the gym … So going into my first debut fight against Willem Smith, I had such a big fear of being taken down or being involved in a grappling exchange.
“Even though I trained with savages, I have never been battle-tested,” he admitted.
He also had no experience in feeling a shin-to-shin kick as he trained with shin guards.
“I went into the fight, and I listened to what the coach told me. Thirty-six seconds later, he was on the floor. I didn’t experience what it was like to be kicked in the shin and there was no wrestling exchange.”
The next month, Clarke was back in the hexagon, locked in against opponent Boyka Kabangu from the DRC, where there was a bit of grappling and a clinch exchange before Kabangu eventually gave up, with Clarke being declared the winner by verbal submission/retirement.
“That was such a disappointing fight. I was still very nervous. He swung at me with wide shots. In fighting, you need to fight your fight, but sometimes you get pulled into another person’s fight.
“So, when he swung, I swung harder instead of sticking to my plan and my way of fighting … The part that upset me the most was that I made myself look like a fool — an amateur … and I never got to showcase how I actually fight."
Two years after joining MMA, he received a call to be a heavyweight fighter for the second biggest MMA promoter after the UFC, the PFL Africa’s first season, where he would take on Cameroon’s Jashell “The Hulk” Ticha Awa — a shorter fighter but with hands “five times larger” than his.
“Strength and weight don’t dictate the fight. I told myself when I fight this guy, I shouldn’t get hit.”
Clarke won due to a doctor’s stoppage and moved to the semifinals, where he took on Maxwell Djantou Nana, defeating him by a verbal tap-out in the third round.
Clarke had a record of four wins and zero losses.
This meant he would move to the finals for a chance to win the heavyweight title, a chance to fight at the PFL global and $100,000.
The final fight went viral for one of the fastest knockouts in the PFL, but this time, it was Clarke who was knocked out in the first 21 seconds.
“All of the whole year’s hard work and being on the receiving end of the big statement — that gutted me. Losing is part of the sport and we sometimes have to face it … But the manner in which I lose is what affects me.
“If I went and had a maxed-out war and I got knocked out, then the better man won. But that fact that I threw about three jabs and hit the floor upset me deeply.”
Clarke however, persevered and accepted to fight once again in the PFL Africa’s second season in his hometown.
This time he would be taking on Kane, a man who is known for viral knockouts and no losses.
With the crowd cheering for Clarke, a sense of anxiousness filled the arena when Kane had Clarke against the fence, throwing combinations and knee blows which he tried to defend.
In a split second, the giant plunged to the ground after a sudden knockout punch by Clarke, followed by punches on the ground to finish him off while he was still bleeding from the nose.
Clarke was one step closer to the global MMA stage.
“One thing I want to inspire in the world is that I am 38. A lot of people look at me and think I am way past my prime but to me I am just getting started, and it feels like it. I don’t feel like I am slowing down.
“I believe my approach is different to the norm. What saddens me in the fitness industry is when people complain about their age. It’s not about age.
“It’s about conditioning. If I can go out there and fight people younger than me, and still come out on top, you can too,” said Clarke.
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