UFC 161 results/photos: Alexis Davis outgrapples Rosi Sexton in decision win

WINNIPEG – Rosi Sexton made history as the first British woman to compete in the octagon, but she struggled against a naturally bigger Alexis Davis, who took home a decision win.

The women’s bantamweight bout was part of today’s UFC 161 event at MTS Centre in Winnipeg. It aired on pay-per-view after prelims on FX and Facebook.

Both fighters started quickly at the opening bell, engaging in the center and flurrying with strikes. After a torrid pace to open, the pair moved into the clinch, and Davis dropped to her back while pulling Sexton into her guard. Davis quickly locked in a loose triangle-choke attempt, and while she went to work cinching it up while on her back, Sexton used her left arm to break the hold and delivered strikes to the face with her right.

In the second, Davis appeared to have tired from the missed submission, and Sexton seemed energized by surviving the attempt, electing to take the fight to the floor. Unfortunately for Sexton, Davis quickly swept to the top and looked briefly to set up a side choke but instead settled into her opponent’s guard. As Sexton turned to look for a leg, Davis quickly spun away and on to her opponent’s back, where she teed off until the bell.

Davis wasted little time in bringing the fight again to the floor in the final frame, where she again found herself in dominant positions but struggled to finish off a gritty Sexton. Still, her control of the grappling was enough to earn her the fight on the judges’ cards with scores of 29-28, 29-27 and 29-28.

Canadian Davis (14-5 MMA, 1-0 UFC) proves victorious in her UFC debut and is now 6-1 in her past seven fights. Still, she admitted the octagon jitters proved a real challenge.

“I’m so tired I can barely speak,” Davis admitted after the fight. “The adrenaline dump I got when Bruce Buffer said my name was awesome.

“I wanted to finish the fight in the first round. I landed some big elbows standing, but she’s tough and so hard to finish on the ground.”

Sexton (13-3 MMA, 0-1 UFC), who traditionally fights at 125 pounds, sees a three-fight win streak snapped. She also agreed nerved played a part in her performance.

“The UFC butterflies are real,” Sexton said. “It is funny, I was very nervous backstage but once the fight started the nerves went away.

“I did a few things wrong, made some mistakes, but I think it was a good fight.”

Up-to-the-minute UFC 161 results include:

• Alexis Davis def. Rosi Sexton by unanimous decision (29-28, 29-27, 29-28)
• Shawn Jordan def. Pat Barry via TKO (punches) – Round 1, 0:59
• Jake Shields def. Tyron Woodley via split decision (27-30, 29-28, 29-28)
• James Krause def. Sam Stout via submission (guillotine choke) – Round 3, 4:47
• Sean Pierson def. Kenny Robertson via majority decision (29-28, 29-28, 28-28)
• Roland Delorme def. Edwin Figueroa via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
• Mitch Clarke def. John Maguire via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
• Yves Jabouin def. Dustin Pague via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)

For complete coverage of UFC 161, stay tuned to the UFC Events section of the site.

Matt Erickson and Ben Fowlkes contributed to this report on-site in Winnipeg.