Alex Davis, who was one of the founding members of
American Top Team, recently moved to Las Vegas to open ATT
Nevada.
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The move benefits his role as manager, considering Las Vegas is the
fight capital of the world. However, things have not been easy for
Davis’ clients the past two weeks, first with Norma
Dumont at UFC 274 and then last week, with Amanda
Ribas’ move to flyweight against Katlyn
Chookagian. Ribas ended up losing via unanimous decision in a
“Fight of the Night”-winning bout, and afterward revealed that she
fought with a ruptured biceps tendon in her left arm.
“Amanda is an unbelievable warrior, a little samurai. I am
extremely proud of her,” Davis told Sherdog.com.
Davis said it was never a consideration for Ribas to withdraw from
the bout.
“Her injury was not threatening nor was it something that would
keep her out of the fight,” Davis said. “Yes, it was an injury that
put her at a disadvantage but she decided to fight through it. MMA
is an extreme sport. And it is very common for fighters to overcome
injuries and stay in fights.
“Athletic commissions conduct basic exams to make sure fighters do
not have any serious issues that would warrant them from being
pulled from a fight. At the end of the day, fighters do not have
monthly incomes, they get paid for fights, so they are the ones who
make the final decision.”
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One week prior, Dumont dealt with the same scale controversy that
affected ex-lightweight champion Charles
Oliveira at UFC 274. Dumont missed weight ahead of her clash
with Macy
Chiasson by 0.5 pounds.
“In 21 years as manager I have never faced an issue like this,”
Davis said. “I witnessed everything that happened with Charles and
Norma . The fact is that there was a difference between UFC
test scale and the official Arizona commission one. When it was
discovered, it was fixed but the harm had already been done.
“Norma called right before going to bed, informing me she had three
pounds to go, and would finish the cut in the morning. She expected
to lose approximately another pound by morning in her sleep. She
woke up at 6 a.m. and checked that she was 2.5 over. She restarted
the weight loss process for about two hours, reached the
weight on her personal scale in the room, but when she returned to
check she was overweight by the same 2.5 pounds,” Davis continued.
“A similar thing happened to Charles. With athletes like Charles
and Norma, who have difficult weight cuts, this difference is huge.
Both paid for an error that was not theirs. They still tried to get
down to the correct weight but ran out of time. Both fighters
lost 30 percent of their purse and Charles lost his title and
what would have been a performance bonus. I find this simply
bizarre, and I hope I never witness something like this
ever again.”
Davis was Antonio
Rodrigo Nogueira’s first manager and has also counted the likes
of Antonio
Silva, John
Lineker, Thiago
Silva, Edson
Barboza, and Thiago
Santos among his clients. Davis has followed the
evolution of the sport since 1999, when it was still called No
Holds Barred in the U.S. and Vale Tudo in Brazil. Recognizing the
evolution of MMA, Davis believes some simple changes could
benefit the sport a lot.
“Nobody understands the sport better than the fighters and the
trainers. It’s a huge pool of knowledge,” he said. “I find it
extremely unfortunate that the commissions are not listening to
them, letting them provide input. I find this to be an arrogant
attitude on the commissions’ part. Ninety percent of trainers and
athletes don’t even understand how they are being judged and what
the judges are looking for in order to score the fight. There needs
to be discussion on these issues, and the fighters and trainers
should be included in the discussion.
“And there are so many other issues that should be discussed. The
other day I found out that some of these commissions receive a
percentage of the promotion’s revenues. How could that be? How can
a regulating body be getting a percentage? In my mind that turns a
commission into a partner of what it should be regulating.”
In Davis’ opinion, it´s also time for the sport to have a code of
conduct, not only for fighters, but also trainers and
managers.
“I think that there should also be a code of ethics imposed by the
governing bodies on the participants like corners and managers. I
see so many instances with managers acting as second corners, or
when that cornerman (Tony Kelley)
in last weekend’s fight included racial slurs in his cornering.
This is an extreme sport. MMA is also about respect. Respect of the
rules, respect for the people participating, respect to everyone.
This respect is what differentiates it from a blood sport that the
commissions were put in place to avoid.”
Sign up for ESPN+ right here, and you
can then stream UFC Fight Night 206 “Holm vs. Vieira” live on your
smart TV, computer, phone, tablet or streaming device via the ESPN
app.