Mike Davis has had a hard time getting fights and is hoping to fight out the final three bouts of his deal soon.
Davis returned to the Octagon at UFC Vegas 61 against Viacheslav Borshchev after his original opponent, Uros Medic was forced to pull out. When Davis made the walk to the Octagon it was the first time he fought since January 2021 and he admits the rust was there.
“I feel like the UFC is really good at replacements, but not good at finding people fights. Getting the initial matchup is hard, getting replacements is easy,” Davis said to BJPENN.com. “But, I had no idea who he was, I only watched his last fight against Marc (Diakese) and knew he couldn’t wrestle at all. I was rusty in the striking so just followed in Marc’s footsteps.”
Although Davis felt some rust, he did control the fight and cruised to a clear-cut decision victory. He also believes the fight should’ve been stopped in the first round. Even though Davis didn’t get the stoppage he wanted, he still hopes his performance shows the UFC that he deserves a bigger push than he has gotten.
“Hopefully the UFC will start to treat me like a bigger fighter after this performance,” Davis said. “I will probably get harder fights, bigger fights, and stick on the main card or be on a pay-per-view event. But, I was ecstatic about how the fight went and getting the win, but I do think it could’ve been stopped.”
Yet, even though Mike Davis wants a bigger push, he says if he is getting paid the same he would rather fight bums than face someone ranked well above him that is making more than him.
“I’m not looking to fight a named person yet because my pay grade doesn’t match up to that. I fight for what my worth is right now,” Davis said. “The UFC also won’t budge. So, I’d rather fight bums and fight someone who doesn’t know what they are doing for what I’m making.”
Rather, Davis just wants to be as active as possible next year as he wants to finish off his deal and test free agency. He isn’t ruling out a return to the UFC but does want to see what else is out there.
“I want to finish out this contract, I probably won’t re-sign and see how much I can negotiate and see what I’m worth to them. If I’m not, I’ll see what else is out there,” Davis concluded.
Who would you like to see Mike Davis fight next?