Following a career-altering decision win over Paige VanZant that spoiled the former UFC star’s BKFC debut, Hart was enjoying the moment, celebrating her accomplishment and smelling the proverbial roses. Then, a woman entered the ring, water was flying, words were exchanged and she continued her viral post-fight promo.
Amid all the commotion in the aftermath of Hart’s win, it was never explained on the broadcast who had entered the ring to confront her. It turns out it was Jenny Clausias, better known as “Jenny Savage,” who this past December picked up her first BKFC win with a second-round stoppage.
Like most people watching this past Friday, it took Hart a moment to realize what was actually happening in the moment.
“Honestly, I was just talking, I didn’t even recognize her,” Hart told MMA Fighting while appearing on What the Heck. “I thought it was literally some random, and I’m joking, but I really did... I thought it was some random-ass prostitute. I didn’t even think it was Jenny Savage because she was wearing this tube top, her makeup was ridiculous, and she’e just spazzing out, hair flying everywhere and it took me a second to realize who it was.
“When I realized it was Jenny Savage, I was like, ‘Dude, you need to chill out.’ She’s crazy.”
As it turns out, when Savage stopped Sheena Starr at BKFC 15, one of the broadcasters for the event was Hart, who was impressed with the performance of “The Tennessee Gangster” and, according to Hart, told her as much. The response from Savage was not what she expected.
“I commentated her fight—this is how it started—and she caught Sheena Starr with a really good overhand, it was awesome,” Hart said. “So I went up to her after the fight and I said, ‘Hey, your overhand is your best punch. Congratulations [on the win].’ And she looked at me and said, ‘That’s not my best punch. You haven’t seen my best punch yet,’ and I was like, whoa! I was trying to give you a compliment and say that you did good, I don’t know why you have to flip it around. Your jab ain’t your best punch, so I don’t know what’s up with you right now, and she just stormed off.”
Over the next two months, things were brewing behind the scenes on social media. With what began as a fighter commentating a matchup involving another fighter went on to become a lot more. Hart claims Savage began spreading lies and rumors about her prior to the fight with VanZant. Hart, who has now won two straight fights in the BKFC ring, thinks there was potentially some professional jealousy going on since she got the fight Savage apparently wanted.
“I saw on Facebook that she just blocked me, randomly,” Hart explained. “I don’t even talk about her, because I don’t really care about it at all. It’s honestly insignificant to anything in my life. And then all of a sudden she was like, ‘I want the Paige fight. I want the Paige fight.’ Why would you get the Paige fight when you just fought Sheena Starr and me and Paige have already been established? Paige came in the ring with me, it didn’t need to be a thing where somebody tries to steal the limelight, because Paige already said that she would fight me.
“So Jenny Savage did what any other girl can do—it’s part of bullying—she made up all these rumors about me. She said I was on meth, I was drinking, and that the only reason I was big in BKFC was because I sleep with all the people there. It was just such crazy dumb, yet so original ideas from her to start any rumor that she can. It was just uncalled for and really disrespectful, but it showed me how you are from a mental level that you would make up stuff and say whatever you want to start drama, and to start sh*t. It was stuff that had zero truth to it, and I hated that this girl did that for something that wasn’t warranted, especially someone who dresses like that, behaves like that, and you can could see her coming up to the ring [and] I don’t think she’s in any [place] to throw stones when she lives in a glass house with what she does with her personal stuff.”
The three judges all scored the fight 49-46 for Hart as she was able to hold off a charging VanZant in the fifth and final frame. Hart believes she had an argument for getting a clean sweep on the scorecards, but she was happy the judges got it right and she was able to show the world her hard work paying off.
When Savage entered the ring to interrupt the post-fight interview, Hart was disappointed in her BKFC colleague.
“She came up and it was like, man, me and her fighting is like easy as crap for me, but it shouldn’t have been a moment for her to come in the ring,” Hart stated. “It was [after] the main event. It’s over. If she wanted to call me out she could have done it later, but it shows kind of how heartless and tasteless that that girl is.”
With a huge win over a big name like VanZant, it comes with a lot of options moving forward. A rematch with “12 Gauge” would likely to big business, which Hart is fully aware of.
What she really wants is to compete for a BKFC title next. Should the promotion move forward with a grudge match against Savage, Hart would have no issues with that whatsoever. If they happened to put a title on the line, that would seem to be the best option of all for Hart.
“Jenny Savage is, honestly, a level underneath me and she should fight somebody else,” Hart said. “But, hey, and I know Paige VanZant used it on me, so I’m not gonna say it’s an easy win, but it’s gonna be easy for me because I know she has that disrespect, and I’m gonna want to punish her incredibly much for disrespecting me, coming in my ring, and spreading those rumors.
“It would be kind of like me beating up a bully, and I would love to beat up a bully no matter what, but I would think the next thing for me would be a title shot. If she wants to fight, that’s cool. Talk is cheap. Go put your money where your mouth is and say you want to fight for the title so that way I can get the title over her.”
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