Fight Path: Mike Davis' backyard battles with brother ultimately paid off

Mike Davis saw his life path and career change years ago in a form that had been normal throughout his life: a physical attack from his brother.

Davis had traveled to attend his sister’s wedding, which was far enough away that he hadn’t seen his younger brother in a long while. They had spent their youth as close confidants, but also as near-daily combatants, mimicking professional wrestling moves and even using socks as boxing gloves in the backyard.

When Davis walked into the room, he got the usual greeting.

“He just attacked me,” Davis told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com). “I hadn’t seen my brother in about a year, and that’s just what we did with each other.

“We went to the wedding, and I decided to stay.”

Davis and his brother went about placing mats in the basement, setting the foundation for later mixed martial arts training. He solidified his position as one of the premier flyweights in Canada by defending his title on June 21 at Unified MMA 16. His first-round submission victory underlined his recent success, including an eight-fight win streak to get him to an 11-3 record.

Now Davis is looking for his next opportunity. With the help of his training-partner brother Tyler, who has his own seven-fight win streak and a 9-2 record, Davis has turned his attention more to MMA while keeping his schedule flexible by working as a contractor.

Because he has faced most of the other notable flyweights in his home country, Davis is hoping to expand to U.S. competition soon. When he does, he’ll try to continue a rise that almost didn’t happen after he started his career 0-2. With encouragement, he continued his training and has built an impressive resume.

“I’ve come a long way,” he said. “I dropped two weight classes – I was eating pizza at my first weigh-in. Now I really try to finish (fights) as much as I can. I try to attack.”

Brotherly affection (and fighting)

Davis was born 16 months before his younger brother. They were fighting nearly from the beginning, but that never affected their close relationship.

In fact, Davis laughs while telling the story of once punching his only sister in the nose when they were small children because she was attacking his brother. Only he, it seems, was allowed to pound on Tyler.

The family moved multiple times and finally settled in a small town in Alberta. It was small enough that Davis’ high school graduating class was barely 20 students. But the brothers still found enough inspiration to dream of MMA training.

They were constantly at it. Tyler once broke his arm when the two were playing Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Mike kicked him off the bunk beds. Both have faced their share cuts and bruises throughout the face and body.

First, they were fans of professional wrestling, practicing the moves they saw in the backyard. Then once, when at the video store, they accidentally rented a UFC tape instead of a pro wrestling episode.

“I saw my first Tito Ortiz fight when I was about 10 or 11,” he said. “I just fell in love with the violence. We were drawn to that.”

That’s why, when the brothers reunited at their sister’s wedding, they couldn’t again separate. Davis moved in with his brother and they set up a training area in their basement. Soon, several other friends were involved.

“We found a gym that was about 30 minutes away, and we tried some training there,” he said. “We didn’t really know what we were doing at first, but it was something we loved to do.”

Overcoming disappointment

Davis had only been training for about three months when he got his first opportunity.

When he got to the gym one day, the coaches were looking for someone to take a fight at 145 pounds, heavier than he might’ve preferred. He accepted and became a professional immediately in 2009.

“It was a bloody mess,” he said. “It was a drawn-out fight, and he was way too experienced for me. In the third round, I was tired and he caught me and the ref stopped the fight. I made 200 bucks, but I had two big swollen eyes and a broken nose.

“The next day they sent me home from work.”

At the time, Davis worked doing piping insulation, which required being outside in very cold temperatures. His fighting, or at least the physical results, surprised some coworkers.

Davis lost again in March 2009, and after that 0-2 start he seriously considered ending his career. But he got plenty of encouragement to keep going, including from his brother, who has been a steady sense of inspiration throughout his career.

“It’s huge,” Davis said of having his brother as a confidant. “I can trust him 100 percent. Say I’m cutting weight and I’m in the sauna, if someone told me to do five more minutes, I might not be in the mood to listen to them. If it’s my brother, I’ll listen to him.

“I know I can trust him completely, and not everyone has someone like that.”

After getting back to some basics of grappling and jiujitsu, he surged. Beginning in November 2009, Davis has won 11 of his past 12 fights, including his June title defense.

Now he waits for his next opportunity, which he hopes will soon involve meeting some of the best flyweights from the U.S.

“I would love to fight a bigger name,” he said. “I’m feeling good about where my career is now, and I’m ready for a big challenge.”

Catching up

Last month, Holly Holm told us about her life growing up in a rural area as the daughter of a preacher, but that didn’t mean things were always calm. The family made its backyard into a soccer field, basketball court and baseball field, plus added a zipline to start Holm on a path to adventure.

She continued her MMA journey last week by topping Allanna Jones with a second-round knockout at Legacy Fighting Championship 21 to improve to 4-0.

Back in 2010, Demetrious Johnson discussed his mother’s lifelong lesson that he and his siblings should look someone in the eye when talking to them. There was a reason for that that they didn’t learn until they were teenagers: She was born almost completely deaf, so that was the only way she could understand them.

She wanted to be independent, which she also stressed to her kids. Johnson used those lessons to build a 17-2-1 record heading into a Saturday matchup with John Moraga at UFC on FOX 8.

Award-winning newspaper reporter Kyle Nagel pens “Fight Path” each week. The column focuses on the circumstances that led fighters to a profession in MMA. Know a fighter with an interesting story? Email us at news [at] mmajunkie.com.