Sharice Davids: A lawyer with the urge to fight
By David MichaudNative Sun News Correspondent PINE RIDGE— Going into her first professional fight Sharice Davids is ready to show just what a true martial artist can do. Currently living and training in Pine Ridge, South Dakota, Davids has been a martial artist for the past 13 years. She began training when she was 20 years old and has never stopped. “I have been training since I was 20 and had always been fascinated with martial arts,” said Davids. She is currently training to take on Nadia Nixon, who is also coming into her first professional fight. Nixon holds a record of 7-5-1, according to leading MMA website Sherdog.com, which keeps track of MMA records. “I think she likes to throw armbars. This will be her first professional fight although she has had more amateur fights than I have,” said Davids. “From what I can tell she is technically sound on the ground and has a number of years of experience with a stand-up martial arts, I think it's Karate but I'm not positive.” The fight is for Shamrock FC, a promotion based out of St. Louis, but expanding into Kansas City for this event. To prepare for Nixon, Davids has been training hard with the Rez Rumblerz in Pine Ridge along with training at other gyms across the country. She has also incorporated more strength training, in the hopes of gaining a little extra advantage in her fights. “I train in Pine Ridge with the Rez Rumblerz (under Dave Michaud Sr.). One or two nights a week I will go up to Rapid City to get some training in with different people,” said Davids. “It is always good to have a variety of training partners. I travel for work sometimes and when I do that I usually look for a gym in the area and try them out. I almost always have great experiences when I do that. The MMA community and martial arts community is very open and friendly.” “My training is going pretty well. In this past year I have started to really do more strength training. I will spend some time most days just lifting weights - though I do high reps and less weight, which helps with speed and endurance. I have been getting some great sparring in with the guys that I train with.” Fighting in Kansas City is not going to be a problem for Davids. She had lived there for years and still has family and friends in the area. Her mother and two brothers still live in Kansas City so she will be around familiar faces. Training will also be no problem; she began her fighting career with John Brown at Revolution Gym in Kansas City, and will be able to train and finish her weight cut with them again. Although there will be no problems with where she is fighting, there are always going to be nerves going into any fight; especially when it is someone's first pro fight. “I am excited and nervous to have a professional fight. For anyone who has ever played a sport, it is always a dream to be able to go pro,” said Davids. “I already trained pretty intensely for all my fights so I wouldn't say it has changed my training that much. I do feel like I am training more for this fight than I did for my last fight though. I am very excited!” Before this fight Davids had to make a choice, continue on with her amateur career or see what she could do as a professional before she had to hang up her gloves. “I am not sure how many more MMA fights I will have. I'm 33 already and I had my first fight in 2006. Training is intense and it takes a lot out of you. I am not sure how long I want to put my body through this,” said Davids, who is a certified lawyer who also owns her own coffee company, Hoka! Coffee. Obviously, she is not depended on fighting for her livelihood; she does it because she's a martial artist. “I love to fight though and I love to train so I wanted to take a pro fight because I don't want to regret not doing it later when I have finished competing in MMA,” said Davids. “I am a martial artist so I will always train, that passion will not go away,” said Davids. “But the desire to go to the gym with the focus on competing may not always be there.” With her training and all the logistics out of the way all that Davids is missing is a set of sponsors, all the training costs really do add up. And she will be looking for some soon, if any business people are interested in helping out a lawyer/entrepreneur/martial artist. With a well-rounded resume like that, who wouldn't want to help her out? (Contact David Michaud at bulldawg_252000@hotmail.com) Copyright permission by Native Sun News
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