UFC Fight Night 108 results: Alexis Davis' grappling wins out as Cindy Dandois' striking lacks

NASHVILLE – True to her word, UFC newcomer Cindy Dandois didn’t waste time on her feet.

Although Dandois (8-3, 0-1 UFC) managed to repeatedly take down one-time title challenger Alexis Davis (18-7 MMA, 5-2 UFC), her inability to do damage on top and amateurish standup gave Davis the edge on the scorecards.

The women’s bantamweight bout was part of the preliminary card of today’s UFC Fight Night 108 event at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tenn. It streamed on UFC Fight Pass ahead of additional prelims on FS2 and a main card on FS1.

The final scores were unanimously 29-28 for Davis, who managed to hold off Dandois on the mat and throughly outclass her on the feet.

Still, it was a frustrating affair to watch. The gap between Davis and Dandois while engaging with fists was comically wide. Dandois’ best hope was to grapple, which she did early and often, but Davis’ defense often resulted in an awkward statement as the two tried to disentangle themselves from each other.

Davis had come ready for Dandois’ grappling and made her opponent’s time on top uneasy, throwing up submissions and using shifts in position to get back to her feet. When Dandois turned her mount position into a battle of leglocks, she dutifully defended and went for her own.

In the middle frame, however, Davis figured out Dandois was no threat in striking and did her best work by tenderizing the legs and body. She gave up a takedown but suffered no serious damage while on bottom.

Dandois repeatedly put her opponent on the mat in the final frame, and yet struggled to do anything with the position. After getting back to her feet, Davis was the one landing the majority of strikes.

Davis gets back to the win column after a submission loss to onetime title challenger Sara McMann in her previous bout, while Dandois sees a three-fight streak snapped.

Up-to-the-minute UFC Fight Night 108 results include:

• Alexis Davis def. Cindy Dandois via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
• Bryan Barberena def. Joe Proctor via TKO (knees, punches) – Round 1, 3:30
• Hector Sandoval def. Matt Schnell via knockout (punches) – Round 1, 4:24

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

(MMAjunkie’s John Morgan and Dann Stupp contributed to this report on site in Nashville.)