Las Vegas, NV — Alexis Davis earned a hard-fought unanimous decision against former Invicta FC bantamweight champ and TUF competitor Julija Stoliarenko at UFC Vegas 47.
Extra hard-fought when you factor in the illegal upkick she ate during the fight. Between that, and a number of tight arm-bar attempts, Davis (21-11) had her hands full Saturday — but the Canadian bantamweight was prepared.
“I knew that she was great at her arm-bars, she’s had several arm-bar finishes,” David told media outlets including Cageside Press following the bout. She told herself that despite it being a position she didn’t want to be in, just to “stay calm, relax, and just work my way through it.”
And she did, escaping the arm-bar several times. The upkick, meanwhile, halted the fight for several minutes, but Davis was able to continue.
“That kind of sucked,” admitted Davis. “But you know, so did the punches to my face. It was— I still felt okay afterwards. Nobody wants to end a fight like that. Win or lose, if I was in her position. I just don’t feel like it was intentional, just kind of in that moment.”
Asked if the ref should have deducted a point from Stoliarenko for the foul — he didn’t — Davis responded by saying it hadn’t occurred to her. “I didn’t even think about it until right now. In the end it didn’t matter. My game plan was to come out on top anyways.”
In that sense, she succeeded, and is now 2-1 since returning to the bantamweight division last year, after a stint at 125lbs. The newfound success comes with a rekindled love for MMA, Davis later stated.
“I feel good, I feel like I have a new lease on life, at least on my fight life. I feel great, I feel like I want to keep pushing it. I want to keep this going. I feel like I have a new love for it, that I didn’t have for a while.”
Watch the full UFC Vegas 47 post-fight press scrum with Alexis Davis above. More coverage from the event can be found below.
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Nick Maximov
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Sean Strickland
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Brendan Allen
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Bryan Battle
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Julian Erosa
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Hakeem Dawodu
