Pro wrestling legend Shawn Michaels was glued to the screen for Jessive-Rose Clark’s walkout at UFC 276. Clark walked out to Michaels’ theme song, “Sexy Boy”, with Michaels discussing the “awesome” moment in a recent episode of The MMA Hour.
“Heck, I sat there and watched it,” Michaels said recently on The MMA Hour. “I watched it and it’s like, oh my goodness, she comes out — and then, of course, just like ‘HBK’ [‘The Heartbreak Kid’] she gets tapped out. But it was still awesome.”
Shawn Michaels on Jessica Rose Clark’s “Sexy Boy” Walkout
Unfortunately for Jessica-Rose Clark, she was submitted only 42 seconds into the first round. Her opponent, Julija Stoliarenko, locked in an armbar that dislocated Clark’s elbow, ending the fight, and sending Clark to the sidelines for the foreseeable future. With Jessica-Rose Clark still rehabilitating her arm following her second consecutive loss, it’s unclear what her UFC future looks like.
Despite the disappointing result on the night, Shawn Michaels was still very impressed with the walkout, appreciating the recent influx of WWE references in the world of the UFC. One notable example was middleweight champion Israel Adesanya’s Undertaker-themed walkout at UFC 276.
“It was awesome, because look, they do it to The Undertaker’s [theme song at UFC 276 with Israel Adesanya], he’s got cool music. A lot of people have had other performers do that [to their music]. Not me.
My song, it’s snappy, it’s cool, everybody loves it, but it isn’t really that machismo song. And so, to have a fighter come out to my music and go, like, ‘OK, they get it,’ it’s everything.
I don’t know a dude in the world that doesn’t love my music, it’s a toe-tapper and it’s a snappy tune, but it’s one of those things like, ‘Yeah, but I can’t come out to that before a fight.’ You know what I mean?
So again, to have somebody do that and be proud of it and enjoy it, and understand it and appreciate how cool that music is — that’s why I’ve never changed it over the years. It’s absolutely one of the greatest songs, and so it’s very cool when it lives on past you and transitions into other sports.”
Shawn Michaels was clearly deeply honored by the tribute, which begs the question of which WWE legend might be referenced in the UFC next.
Do you think UFC fighters should offer more entertaining walkouts like Jessica-Rose Clark? Let us know in the comments.
