10th Planet Boca Raton, FL
Heather Jo Clark
10th Planet Black Belt Heather Jo Clark is a long time martial artist. She began studying Shotokan Karate at 8 years old but fell in love with fighting on the ice playing D1 hockey at Saint Cloud State University.
After returning from Switzerland, where she moved to play professionally, she decided to get back into martial arts and joined an MMA gym in Los Angeles under head coach Roberto Piccinini of the famed Chute Boxe lineage.
Finding early success in the gym, Heather decided that she wanted to pursue fighting as a career and sought out the best coaches and training partners in the world. This pursuit of greatness led her to Jackson/Winkeljohn’s in Albuquerque, NM where she lived like a student, dedicating all of her energy to mastering her craft.
After surviving hard training sessions in the gym with MMA standouts and pioneers like Holly Holm, Michelle Waterson, and Julie Kedzie, she took her first fight as a professional despite having no amateur experience. Aside from the wars she had with the women and men in training. That caliper of training was the best in the world.
Back in 2008, surviving the gym was all about learning to be tough until you learned to fight. Heather quickly learned to fight back and soon became a straw weight prospect to watch. Despite losing her first pro fight, Heather went on to finish her next 5 in a row including a highlight reel knockout just 10 seconds into her second pro bout.
In constant search of the best coaches and training partners, Heather moved to Las Vegas where she found her home at Xtreme Couture training under Robert Follis and along side UFC Champion Miesha Tate.
Having Robert as a coach was life changing for Heather and she aspires to continue his legacy, keeping his and message and teachings alive in her new gym.
Heather was selected as one of the top 16 women in the world and asked to take part in the UFC’s first women’s flyweight tournament on “The Ultimate Fighter” Season 20. After notching a hard fought victory over Bec Rawlings in the season finale while fighting on a torn ACL, Heather went on to fight several more top contenders in the UFC’s Strawweight division while traveling around the world and fighting on the biggest cards of her era. He also had fights in Bellator and Invicta FC before announcing her retirement in 2018.
After retiring from fighting, Heather shifted her focus to coaching Jiu Jitsu and founded 10th Planet Denver with 10th Planet black belt Conor Heun.
At 10th Planet Denver she dedicated herself to becoming the best coach possible and worked to build 10th Planet Denver into the world renowned facility it is today. In March of 2023 Heather moved to South Florida to build her own world class training center at 10th Planet Boca Raton.
Heather is beyond excited for this next chapter and can’t wait to share the life changing philosophies of her coach, Robert Follis, and the out-of-this-world techniques of the 10th Planet System with the next generation of fighters in SoFlo.
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