Alexis Davis, Amanda Nunes Victorious At UFC Fight Night 31Jiu-jitsu ace Alexis “Ally-Gator” Davis showcased her underrated striking skills en route to her fourth straight victory tonight at UFC Fight Night 31: “Fight For The Troops 3” in Hopkinsville, Kentucky. Davis defeated former UFC title challenger Liz “Girl-Rilla” Carmouche by Unanimous Decision.

In earlier action, Amanda “Lioness” Nunes earned her second UFC victory with another dominant first-round stoppage win. Nunes mounted multi-time Muay Thai world champion Germaine “The Iron Lady” de Randamie early in the fight and she rained down elbows until the brief bout was stopped.

 

Davis (15-5-0) and Carmouche (9-4-0) traded one-twos and leg kicks in the opening minute of tonight’s co-main event. Davis’s kicks had more power behind them and Carmouche began to favour her right leg. Davis pressed the action with quick combinations on the feet, but Carmouche countered nicely with two solid right hooks late in the round.

Carmouche cut Davis with a right hook during an exchange of strikes in the second round, but the blood only seemed to fuel Davis to fight even harder and she walked Carmouche down with punches and leg kicks. Carmouche began to limp on her right leg and Davis continued to punish her with kicks. She caught a body kick and secured a takedown into side control shortly before the bell.

Both women landed knees to the body in the final round and Carmouche fought off a takedown attempt. She scored with a kick to the body, but Davis quickly answered back with more hard leg kicks. She landed kicks, knees and right hands in the final minute and kept Carmouche on the defensive until the end of the fight.

All three judges scored the fight for Davis, who has won seven of her past eight bouts. Her lone defeat during that time came via razor-thin decision against former Strikeforce champion Sarah Kaufman in a March 2012 rematch.

Winner: Alexis Davis by Unanimous Decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28) after three rounds. She improves to 15-5-0.

 

Nunes (9-3-0) clinched against the cage in the opening minute and she worked hard for a takedown. De Randamie (4-3-0) initially defended well, but Nunes managed to get her down to the mat. She wasted no time in passing to mount and began to unload with punches and elbows from the top. De Randamie covered up from the bottom and blocked or deflected many of Nunes’s strikes, but Nunes still managed to land some solid shots.

De Randamie continued to defend herself, but she could not escape from under Nunes and referee Herb Dean finally stopped the fight after a final salvo of elbows from the Brazilian. Nunes remains unbeaten inside the Octagon and she has put on arguably her most impressive performances to date in both of her UFC appearances.

Winner: Amanda Nunes by TKO (Elbows) at 3:56 of round one. She improves to 9-3-0.

 

 

(Photo Credit: UFC)

  1. I’d love to see a rematch between Amanda Nunes and Alexis Davis: Nunes dominated Alexis in the first round, seemed a good deal stronger, outstruck her and even neutralized her ground game from the top. She gassed in the second round, and paid for it.

    Alexis is one of the most well-rounded fighters in the 135 lb. division, and can beat ANYONE, IMO, including Ronda Rousey. She got the best ground game, and I’d actually favour her against Sara McMann or even Cat Zingano. Marloes would be competitive, if she was fighting as a bantamweight.

    Nunes vs Ronda would be interesting, just for the fact Nunes is a brown belt in judo. While not a world class Judoka, she might keep the fight standing with Ronda for a longer while, and, as we know, she hits really hard…

  2. What makes Nunes scary is her strength. Her weakness was her cardio. She is a huge bantamweight and made one of the three best strikers in WMMA look harmless.

    Davis look like a different fighter than the one who fought Sexton. She is still part of the Holy Trinity of Rousey killers along with Zingano and McMann.

  3. McMann and, especially, Davis have a shot at Rousey, IMO.

    As to Cat, I think she’s small for Rousey, who would have no issues taking her down and going for a nasty armbar… but I hope I am mistaken here.

    Nunes vs Rousey could be interesting theoretically.

    I think Nunes mentioned she walks around 143 lbs. She didn’t cut any weight when she fought Julia Budd. So, I assume people like Kaufman and Rousey, on paper, are bigger.

    But, yes, she is very, very strong, and got some really heavy hands. Men who train with her remark how strong her hands, in particular, are.

    I think Nunes has been working on her cardio and has been saving some energy, after her loss to Davis. So, she is being less explosive with her punches.

    Her weakness is her takedown defense (at least, against wrestling takedowns), as her fight against D’alelio showcased.

    The thing is Ronda’s primary tool to take down fighters is hip tosses or judo trips… and Nunes, as a brown belt, may be somewhat harder to take down in this fashion… Of course Rousey is a better judoka, but it’d be interesting how she’d fare f the fight were to keep standing for longer (and I am 100% convinced that Nunes hits a lot harder).