Alexis Davis unfazed as critics pan UFC Fight Night 108 bout with Cindy Dandois

NASHVILLE – Alexis Davis isn’t going to let some criticism get to her. As a female fighter on MMA’s biggest stage, she’s used to the gripes.

At Saturday’s UFC Fight Night 108 event, Davis (18-7 MMA, 5-2 UFC), a former UFC women’s bantamweight title challenger, edged promotional newcomer Cindy Dandois (8-3 MMA, 0-1 UFC) via unanimous decision.

However, the bout, which closed out the UFC Fight Pass prelims before additional bouts on FS2 and FS1, had many awkward moments. Dandois, whose striking proved rather ineffective, continually tried to force the fight to the mat, where she and Davis often stalled in a stalemate during scrambles.

Reaction from the fans at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, as well as from social media, was pretty brutal. It wasn’t necessarily directed at Davis herself, but she got some of the shrapnel directed at Dandois.

“Everybody puts their two cents in,” said Davis, who’s No. 11 in the USA TODAY Sports/MMAjunkie MMA women’s bantamweight rankings. “You get criticized for winning. You get criticized for losing. And you get criticized for just being in the sport.

“It doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter who it is. Everybody puts their two cents in.”

Admittedly, though, Dandois’ standup was certainly unorthodox, and it affected her efforts in the fight.

“It was kind of difficult to find my rhythm,” said Davis, who successfully rebounded from a December loss to Olympic medalist Sara McMann. “She was a little bit … yeah, unorthodox than I thought she was going to be, so that kind of threw me off a little bit.”

Check out the full conversation above.

And for complete coverage UFC Fight Night 108, check out the UFC Events section of the site.