When strike stats get fights, by UFC Fight Night 126's Brandon Davis

AUSTIN, Texas – Almost as soon as he took off his gloves, featherweight Brandon Davis wanted to get back in the octagon.

“They put in the stats that I got hit 35 times, but I only felt two of them,” Davis (9-3 MMA, 1-1 UFC) told MMAjunkie.

A decision loss to Kyle Bochniak (8-2 MMA, 2-2 UFC) in Davis’ debut at UFC 220 was an exercise in frustration. By his own estimate, the veteran of Dana White’s Contender Series spent more of his time blocking takedowns than hitting and getting hit. In other words, it wasn’t a fight.

Davis told his coach, UFC vet Alan Belcher, to get him a booking pronto. The problem was he’d just fought. Unless you pull off something crazy, or you’re willing to be an injury replacement, you typically get shuffled to the bottom of the deck.

Davis was willing to be the latter. But as it turned out, the UFC didn’t agree. So he had to put together an argument.

“I told Alan I only got hit 35 times,” said Davis. “And Sean Shelby was like, ‘It’s too soon.’ I took a picture of the stats and sent it to Alan, and he sent it to Sean. Two days later, they said I got it.”

According to Fight Metric, Davis actually got hit 38 times to Bochniak’s 33. But hey, who’s counting if the goal is to prove you’re not overly concussed.

The UFC’s offer was a booking against Steven Peterson at UFC Fight Night 126, which fell less than one month from his debut. Davis accepted, and wound up promoted to the FS1-televised main card after a bout between Jessica Aguilar and Livia Renata Souza was bumped off the card due to injury.

In the end, Davis made the most of his short-notice opportunity on Sunday at Frank Erwin Center in Austin, outclassing the gritty Peterson (16-7 MMA, 0-1 UFC) to earn his first UFC win and take home a $50,000 bonus.

This time around, Davis got hit a lot more than 35 times. Peterson made it so by refusing to give up despite a disadvantage in speed and technique. Per Fight Metric, Davis caught 114 strikes to to Peterson’s 73. The difference was in quality. Davis landed 40 percent of his significant strikes, while Peterson was good on only 25 percent.

A near-knockout in the third round, courtesy of a lunging knee from Davis, was the best evidence of quantity over quality.

It would seem wise for Davis to rest on his laurels a bit after nearly tripling the damage he took. But he is young, hungry, and ready to take some lumps in order to work his way up the UFC featherweight ladder.

At the very minimum, he’ll use numbers to make his case.

“They only gave me a 30-day suspension, so I’m hoping I get another fight in one month,” Davis said. “If they give me 12 times, I’ll put on 12 shows – I promise you.”

For complete coverage of UFC Fight Night 126, check out the UFC Events section of the site.