BROOKLYN, NY - APRIL 06: Devin Clark poses on the scale during the UFC 223 official weigh-ins on April 6, 2018 in Brooklyn, New York. (Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images)

After dominating his opponent at Saturday’s UFC 223, Devin Clark is using his platform to help others is high on his list of priorities.

With the chaos from this past week’s UFC 223 pre-fight festivities in the rearview mirror, fight fans were finally treated to a night of Octagon action at the Barclay’s Center in Brooklyn on Saturday thanks to an intriguing pay-per-view and promising preliminary card that began with a solid light heavyweight contest between relative newcomers Devin Clark and Mike Rodriguez.

Following last October’s submission loss to Jan Blachowicz, Clark was looking to get back on track entering Saturday’s slug-fest, and he didn’t disappoint, landing 167 total strikes while controlling the action on his way to earning a decisive, unanimous decision win over Rodriguez in the preliminary card’s opening bout.

Saturday’s impressive performance gave Clark his third victory in five Octagon appearances. But immediately following his latest win, the 27-year old admitted that he was feeling the pressures of what he saw as a must-win situation heading into UFC 223.

“There was a huge amount of pressure,” said Clark. “I knew I needed the win. If I lost this fight against a debut guy you know it probably wasn’t looking good for me. So I know I needed the win to continue my [UFC] career.”

While every fighter struggles to adjust to some aspect of competing on MMA’s biggest stage during the first few chapters of their UFC careers, with an even mark of 2-2 heading into UFC 223, Clark’s concerns may have been unnecessary. But despite the outcome of his latest Octagon action, Clark told the post-fight media that Rodriguez did present a few unexpected challenges.

“He was hard to take down,” said Clark. “Being tall and long, he was a lot harder for me to take down when I wanted to. So I really had to grind him out to get him where I wanted him. ”

A member of the famed Jackson-Wink MMA squad in Albuquerque, Clark has followed in the footsteps of many of today’s pro fighters by using the platform he’s earned to aide others. More specifically, he’s chosen to use that platform to help spread awareness about Down Syndrome, and it’s clearly making a difference in his own life as well.

“I’m going to keep doing it. I’ve made more and more friends every year, every day,” said Clark. “Those are my buddies and I’ll continue to fight for them.”

“The families are really appreciative of it. A lot of people tend to overlook [Down Syndrome] like it’s not an issue how some people with Down Syndrome get treated and the opportunities that they don’t have. So for someone to bring it to light is a big deal. And I’m really happy to do that,” added Clark.

A former middleweight, Clark says he’s found a home in the UFC’s light heavyweight division, and while he won’t learn the identity of his next opponent for some time, it’s safe to say that he’s now far more confident about his future in the sport following Saturday’s win.

“I’d love to fight someone in the top-10, top-15 just to get back there. I know I can hang with these guys,” said Clark. “I can grind out pretty much anybody. I made one mistake in that fight against Jan [Blachowicz], otherwise he would’ve been grinded-out too.”