Liz “Girlrilla” Carmouche squandered an opportunity to vault herself into the UFC women’s bantamweight championship picture. Facing Alexis “Ally-Gator” Davis on Wednesday at the UFC Fight for the Troops 3 in Hopkinsville, Ky., Carmouche was out-struck by a fighter who has made her name as a submissions fighter.
Two of the three judges scored the fight 30-27, and one had it 29-28, all for Davis who earned a unanimous decision. She improved her record to 15-5, and Carmouche dropped to 9-4.
She has some serious questions to answer about where she stands in the division. Carmouche was part of history when she took on Ronda Rousey in the UFC’s first-ever women’s bout in February. However, with this loss, she’ll head to the back of the line of contenders with hopes of challenging for the title.
Here’s a breakdown of all three rounds.
Round 1
The first frame was a tactical battle. Davis established herself with timely and hard leg kicks. Carmouche immediately began to reposition her leg to avoid absorbing them. Just as Davis looked set to walk away with the round, Carmouche landed two hard right-hand counter shots to make the round difficult to score.
Round 2
Despite having a huge cut opened up above her left eye in the round, Davis took control of the fight in this frame. The leg kicks began to buckle Carmouche, and a late-round takedown sealed the frame. Carmouche was clearly the more athletic fighter, but she was totally unprepared for Davis’ lower-body attack.
Round 3
The last round was uneventful, but Davis’ constant pressure throughout the bout made her the fighter who controlled the Octagon in the fight. That said, she deserved the decision.
What’s Next?
Davis could very well be in position to challenge the winner of the Rousey-Miesha Tate fight scheduled for UFC 168. If Rousey wins, Davis’ submission prowess could give her a decent shot to withstand Rousey‘s arm-bar assault.
As for Carmouche, she may be in position to take on the likes of Amanda Nunes. She’s up and coming, and she scored an impressive first-round KO win over Germaine De Randamie during the preliminaries of the event.
At this point, Carmouche needs to string together some wins to avoid falling into gatekeeper status.
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