If wins were attained on heart alone, Liz Carmouche would be undefeated. The five-year veteran of the Marine corps is as tough as they come.
Despite her strength and great fighting spirit, Carmouche‘s vulnerability to the submission will rear its ugly head again Wednesday.
She will face submission specialist Alexis Davis at the UFC Fight for the Troops 3 event at Fort Campbell in Hopkinsville, Ky. Davis has recorded half of her 14 wins as a professional fighter by submission.
All but one of Carmouche‘s losses have come via tapout. More or less, when her attempts to come forward and physically overwhelm her opponent fail, she has found herself taken to the ground and submitted.
To her credit, she has worked to improve her submission game. After all, she nearly had Ronda Rousey in trouble in their bout at UFC 157. However, her lack of technique caused her to squander an opportunity when she had Rousey‘s back with a great shot at locking in a rear-naked choke.
There is no doubt Carmouche has worked a ton on this aspect of her game since then, but the problem for her comes when she faces fighters like Davis who have been submission-based fighters their entire careers.
The gap is too large and Carmouche‘s power edge isn’t big enough to cancel out the grappling disadvantage. On Wednesday night, Carmouche will show up ready to bang and give it her all, but she will again fall victim to her submission Achilles’ heel.
This loss may be the most costly of all. A win could very well land her another shot at the title. Carmouche is the type of fighter who needs an opponent who is willing to stand and trade to shine.
Davis will smartly take Carmouche out of her comfort zone and send her to her fourth defeat.
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