Nearly 2 years of being out of action did not stop Mike Davis from winning a convincing win over Viacheslav Burshchev on Saturday to start the main event at UFC Vegas 61.
While he’s best known for his striking, Davis actually turned to his grappling in the fight against “Slava Claus” as he scored numerous takedowns and essentially mauled his opponent on the ground during any of those exchanges. Davis did have to stave off a late comeback attempt from Borshchev but ultimately it was too little, too late as the fight came to a close.
The judges scored the fight 30-26, 30-26 and 29-28 with Davis securing his third win in a row overall.
” I felt quite good,” Davis stated about his performance. Davis said, “He hit a great shot into my eye and my eye went. I had to fight with my eyes closed. My game is adapting, I believe. But I feel subpar. He was the first to fight me .”
, and I am grateful.
The early exchanges featured a Davis uppercut, which was landed well by Davis. However Borshchev was more than happy to return the favor with some vicious calf kicks. Davis eventually turned to his wrestling to put Borshchev on the canvas with a couple of takedowns as he looked to apply his grappling game.
While the fightants were fighting for positions in the clinch Davis launched a perfect timed knee and clipped Borshchev, putting him on wobbly legs. Davis continued his assault until landing another takedown with this one allowing him to move into the mount.
Davis began to rain down on the top looking for the finish, but Borshchev managed to conceal his injuries well enough to get to the end.
Davis felt a bit lethargic after a fast, energetic fight. Borshchev was on the offensive with better footwork and output. Borshchev continued to punish the legs, which complicated Davis’ movement even more but for all the success he was finding, the Russian couldn’t stop the takedowns.
Even though he was tired, Davis managed to get Borshchev onto his back and move up into the mount. He then began looking for submissions and strong ground-and-pound offenses.
With five minutes left, Borshchev gave one more push to make a comeback. He cracked Davis with an unassisted straight left. The punch caused swelling around Davis’ face, which possibly signaled for a broken orbital bone but the damage done led him to snatch yet another takedown.
The mismatch continued on the ground with Davis outworking Borshchev at every position. This allowed Davis to win the fight and take the victory.
Davis deserves to be proud of this win, considering the amount of time that he had to rest and his tough opponent. He is now ready to become more active.
