MMA Manager Alex Davis On Current Ills of the Sport

Sign up for ESPN+ right here, and you can then stream UFC on ESPN+ live on your computer, phone, tablet or streaming device via the ESPN app.

Mixed martial arts manager Alex Davis has been in the sport for over 20 years. A co-founder of American Top Team and part-time contributor for MMAJunkie, he has viewed the industry from many different angles. With progress slow, he believes greater discourse within the sport, and new ideas would lead to a healthier industry.

“The problem that we’re facing here, the problem that we really have is we’re not discussing anything. Look at NFL. NFL every year gets together, they have meetings, they discuss things, and they try them. Maybe the person I’m speaking to is right. Maybe these don’t work, but if we don’t try, we’re never going to know. When was the last time you saw any major change in anything [in the sport]? There are none.”

The long-time manager of Ultimate Fighting Championship veterans like John Lineker, Antonio Silva and Edson Barboza talked to Sherdog about several key topics in the industry, as well as giving some suggestions that could make things better. Davis touched on MMA judging, weight-cutting, differing rule sets in the United States, managers promoting the negative aspects of the sport, fighter pay scales and money management, sponsorship revenue drying up after the Reebok deal and much more.