{"id":798814,"date":"2026-07-13T09:46:15","date_gmt":"2026-07-13T09:46:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/798814\/"},"modified":"2026-07-13T09:46:15","modified_gmt":"2026-07-13T09:46:15","slug":"caitlin-clark-teases-enforcer-sophie-cunninghams-next-career-move-after-surprise-ufc-role","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/798814\/","title":{"rendered":"Caitlin Clark teases ‘enforcer’ Sophie Cunningham’s next career move after surprise UFC role"},"content":{"rendered":"

Caitlin Clark became the fastest player in WNBA history to reach 600 assists as the Indiana Fever beat the Las Vegas Aces, 109-75.<\/p>\n

She entered the game needing six to reach the milestone, and dished out her record-breaking dime on a bounce pass to Monique Billings as the third quarter came to a close.<\/p>\n

\"Caitlin<\/a><\/p>\n

5<\/p>\n

Clark has become the fastest WNBA player to reach 600 career assistsCredit: Getty<\/p>\n

It took Clark<\/a> 72 regular season games to hit 600 assists, beating Ticha Penicheiro’s previous record of 81 games.<\/p>\n

Five-time WNBA<\/a> All-Star Teresa Weatherspoon reached the mark in 94 games, while it took all-time great Sue Bird and 2024 WNBA Champion Sabrina Ionescu 104 games each.<\/p>\n

Sophie Cunningham, meanwhile, put up 20 points less than 24 hours after appearing as ring girl at UFC 329 in Vegas<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Dressed in an all-black outfit, the WNBA star drew raucous reactions from the crowd at T-Mobile Arena, walking the Octagon during the co-main event between Paddy Pimblett and Benoit Saint Denis.<\/p>\n

READ MORE ON BASKETBALL<\/p>\n

UFC<\/a> CEO Dana White<\/a> later revealed that the viral moment came together around 10 minutes before Cunningham stunned fans.<\/p>\n

She appeared to enjoy her brief career change, and was seen laughing, posing for cameras and pointing toward celebrity row as she strutted around.<\/p>\n

Caitlin Clark teases Sophie Cunningham’s switch to UFC<\/p>\n

Unsurprisingly, Clark was questioned about Cunningham’s appearance after the Fever secured victory in Vegas, and joked that her teammate could soon gear up as a fighter, having already gained a reputation as her on-court ‘enforcer’<\/a>.<\/p>\n

“It was so fun to see, obviously,” she told reporters.<\/p>\n

“It\u2019s cool that people love it, and it shows that people are really paying attention to the WNBA, the players we have, the personalities we have across this league.<\/p>\n

“Maybe we\u2019ll see her do more of it. Who knows, maybe she\u2019ll be a UFC fighter.<\/p>\n

“I don\u2019t know. That\u2019s up to Sophie.”<\/p>\n

\"Sophie<\/a><\/p>\n

5<\/p>\n

Cunningham stunned fans with an appearance at UFC 329 on Saturday nightCredit: Getty\"Caitlin<\/a><\/p>\n

5<\/p>\n

Clark believes her teammate could have a future as a UFC fighterCredit: Getty<\/p>\n

Clark’s record-breaking moment against the Aces on Sunday was celebrated by the Fever<\/a> in a social media post.<\/p>\n

“Another record for No. 22,” Indiana shared Sunday.<\/p>\n

“Caitlin Clark has become the fastest player in WNBA history to reach 600 assists in only 72 games.”<\/p>\n

To make her moment even sweeter, Clark’s six assists contributed to another big win over Las Vegas.<\/p>\n

Indiana secured a 109-75 victory in Sin City, and beat the defending champion Aces for the second time in eight days.<\/p>\n

\"Caitlin<\/a><\/p>\n

5<\/p>\n

Clark’s effort helped the Fever down the Aces for the second time in eight daysCredit: Getty\"Sophie<\/a><\/p>\n

5<\/p>\n

Cunningham enjoyed the Fever’s West Coast road trip, both on and off the courtCredit: Getty<\/p>\n

Clark was absent from the first win, as she has been dealing with back issues<\/a> that flared up in late June.<\/p>\n

She returned to action last Wednesday, and played 16 minutes in a defeat to the Los Angeles Sparks, before sitting out Thursday’s win against the Phoenix Mercury to avoid playing back-to-back.<\/p>\n

The former No. 1 pick finished with 12 points, seven rebounds and six assists in a managed 24 minutes against the Aces.<\/p>\n

Kelsey Mitchell led the Fever with 27 points, in what was her sixth consecutive game with at least 25.<\/p>\n

With a big win in Sin City, Indiana has improved to a 14-9 record on the season and went 3-1 on its West Coast road trip, which Cunningham appeared to enjoy on and off the court.<\/p>\n

Read More on talkSPORT<\/p>\n

The Eastern Conference leaders now have four-straight games at home before the WNBA All-Star break, and face the 17-7 Golden State Valkyries at Gainbridge Fieldhouse on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

Stay up to date on all things WNBA across our talkSPORT platforms – subscribe to our YouTube channel for the latest news, opinion, exclusive interviews and our daily unfiltered, unscripted show ‘The S* Word, from 8am ET<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Caitlin Clark became the fastest player in WNBA history to reach 600 assists as the Indiana Fever beat…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":798815,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[629],"tags":[461,29909,49,735,281464,281465,48,281467,281466,281468,281462,2803,281471,119313,3460,281472,10879,281463,281470,281473,82,640,281469,702,630,25640],"class_list":["post-798814","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wnba","tag-basketball","tag-basketball-news","tag-ca","tag-caitlin-clark","tag-caitlin-clark-record","tag-caitlin-clark-wnba-record","tag-canada","tag-clark-cunnigham","tag-clark-wnba-record","tag-cunningham-ufc","tag-fever-aces","tag-indiana-fever","tag-indiana-fever-las-vegas-aces","tag-indiana-fever-news","tag-las-vegas-aces","tag-sophie-cunnigham-ring-girl","tag-sophie-cunningham","tag-sophie-cunningham-ufc","tag-sophie-cunningham-ufc-329","tag-sophie-cunningham-ufc-ring-girl","tag-sports","tag-ufc","tag-ufc-239","tag-ufc-news","tag-wnba","tag-wnba-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/798814","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=798814"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/798814\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/798815"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=798814"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=798814"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=798814"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}