Sharice Davids dominates in her pro debut
By David MichaudNative Sun News Correspondent KANSAS CITY, MO – A mere four weeks after a family tragedy Sharice Davids kept her mind clear in the way to a dominating first pro victory. Competing in her first professional mixed martial arts bout, Davids traveled from her home in the community of Evergreen, S.D., to Kansas City, Mo., for her fight. The fight was not her first in the area; she attended college there and competed several times before. “I've fought in Kansas City before, I started my training and fighting there so I was familiar with everything,” said Davids. That familiarity ended up paying off. To start the fight Davids, whose stance is Southpaw (left-handed) came out and immediately connected with a left cross flush on her opponent, Nadia Nixon, and put her in a bad spot. After the strike Nixon, who was the taller fighter and figured to use her reach advantage, immediately attempted to pull Davids to the ground. “Going in the plan was to throw the cross. We (Davids and her coaches) saw how hard she threw that jab, her whole body would come in, and so I wanted to slide outside of it and hit my cross on her,” said Davids. “It worked just how we practiced. It's pretty great when something you work on so much ends up like that.” Going into the fight the game-plan was to keep the fight standing, according to Davids. After the punch that hurt Nixon though, it was too tempting to follow her down to the ground and look for the finish. As the fight hit the mat Davids went right to work. With Nixon still hurt from the big punch, Davids passed her guard without much difficulty. “She had just won, or got second, at some big grappling tournament and people didn't think I would be able to do anything on the ground, but I feel confident in my ground game,” said Davids, who noted that just because the plan was to keep it on the feet doesn't mean she wasn't confident in her ground game. In fact, going into the bout the majority of fans in the Kansas City area was not giving much respect to Davids at all. After the fight many expressed that they thought Nixon would take the fight on the ground easily. It was not to be. While the fight was on the ground Davids had her way with Nixon. After passing the guard and attaining side mount, a fairly dominant position, Davids took it even further by attaining knee-on-belly position. All this while striking Nixon in the face, repeatedly. From knee-on-belly Davids locked down one of her opponent’s arms and “thought about going for an arm bar,” said Davids. Instead, she lost balance and ended up on bottom with Nixon on top. It wouldn't be much better for her there though. “When I was on my back I got a scarf choke and it felt tight,” said Davids. “Then I tried to sweep her but went the wrong way so I had to reset, then she started punching me a lot with her free arm that wasn't in the scarf.” “As she was hitting me I got my leg up around her neck one time when she was swinging her arm at me and got the triangle and after that it was just a matter of time until she tapped.” And tap she did. Nixon officially tapped out 2:08 into the first round. With the win Davids has done something that very few can actually say they have done, got paid for doing sports professionally. “I've been training since 2000, so about 13 years and to think that I am getting paid to do something that I've been training for so long is...unreal,” said Davids. “Not many people can ever get the chance to do this and now I have it.” With the win against Nixon the options for Davids have opened up. The promotion she just fought for, Shamrock FC, has expressed an interest in her competing for them again, along with other Midwestern promotions. Something that Davids looks forward to. “I haven't made any decisions yet but I want to keep fighting. My last fight was quite awhile back and I don't want to wait that long again. I want to keep fighting and competing,” said Davids. After her dominating pro debut she is probably not the only one who wants her to fight more. (Contact David Michaud at bulldawg_252000@hotmail.com) Copyright permission by Native Sun News
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