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Blachowicz embarrasses Clark with standing rear-naked choke at UFC Gdansk

Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC / UFC / Getty

Jan Blachowicz wasn't going to disappoint his fellow countrymen.

The experienced light heavyweight submitted a game, albeit raw, Devin Clark with a standing rear-naked choke just over three minutes into the second round of Saturday's tilt at UFC Fight Night 118 in Gdansk, Poland.

The former KSW champ halted a two-fight skid and improved his UFC record to 3-4 with the much-needed victory - his first by tapout in over six years.

Tasked with a promising, explosive athlete who is seven years his junior in Clark, the 34-year-old Blachowicz kept his veteran cool throughout what became a back-and-forth tilt in short order. Clark promptly made his intentions known with a telegraphed takedown attempt, and while Blachowicz had little trouble stuffing his efforts to go to the ground, the prospect did put the Pole on the back foot with a blistering left elbow-right hand combo off a clinch break in Round 1.

A composed Blachowicz soon took the reigns, however, exploiting his edge in technical proficiency with a steady stream of kicks to the liver that began paying dividends by the second stanza.

Clark's inexperience reared its ugly head before long, as Blachowicz made him pay for exposing his neck with a lunging right hand, by slapping on the fight-ending choke.

The 27-year-old Clark sees a two-fight win streak snapped with his second defeat in four walks to the Octagon.

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