Weekend Rundown: Davis, Manuwa Retain Titles

Alexis Davis retained her women’s championship at Raging Wolf 7 “Mayhem in the Mist 3” on Saturday, as she submitted EliteXC veteran Tonya Evinger with a third-round rear-naked choke at the Seneca Niagara Casino and Hotel in Niagara Falls, N.Y. The tapout came 1:47 into round three.

Davis rebounded nicely from her March defeat to Shayna Baszler under the Freestyle Cage Fighting banner and posted her eighth win in 10 bouts. A late replacement for Elaina Maxwell, Evinger started strong, as she scored with punches and early takedowns. Davis, however, turned the tables in the third round and ultimately positioned herself for the choke. A protégé of Dave Dayboll at the Dayboll Jiu-Jitsu and Fitness Academy in Port Colborne, Ontario, Canada, she had not delivered a submission in more than a year.

Evinger entered the match, her first since June 2008, on a three-fight winning streak. All four of the 26-year-old’s defeats have come by submission, including her 2007 loss to Gina Carano.

Unbeaten Manuwa Keeps UCMMA Title

Undefeated prospect Jimi Manuwa kept his stranglehold on the Ultimate Challenge MMA light heavyweight championship, as he put away Reza Mahdavian on first-round punches at UCMMA “Never Back Down” on Saturday at The Troxy in London.

Manuwa dropped Mahdavian with a punch and finished him with ground-and-pound 3:19 into round one. He has stopped all eight of his opponents, six of them inside the first period. Mahdavian, an Ultimate Warrior Challenge veteran who replaced Valentino Petrescu on the “Never Back Down” lineup, has lost two of his past three fights.

Meanwhile, UFC expatriate Neil Grove fought the once-beaten Stav Economou to a controversial draw. Economou, who suffered his lone defeat to recent UFC signee Karlos Vemola in 2009, knocked down the 6-foot-6 Grove in the first round and pressed him with takedown attempts throughout the bout. The draw halted his two-fight winning streak.

Pruned from the UFC roster following his submission loss to Mike Ciesnolevicz, Grove entered the match with wins in three of his last four fights.

Finally, Sengoku veteran Paul Cahoon delivered his second victory in as many appearances, as he took out Earl Brown on a technical knockout at the end of round two. An eye injury forced the stoppage.

Ruiz Stops McCorkell in Pure Combat

Strikeforce, EliteXC and World Extreme Cagefighting veteran Anthony Ruiz stopped Kenny McCorkell on third-round punches in the Pure Combat “Drop Zone” headliner on Friday at Camp Pendleton in Oceanside, Calif. With the win came the promotion’s middleweight crown.

Ruiz, a 32-year-old American Kickboxing Academy product, has rattled off four consecutive victories since his submission loss to Aaron Rosa inside Strikeforce in May 2009. McCorkell saw his three-fight winning streak grind to a halt.

In the co-feature, Greg McIntyre defeated fellow WEC castaway Kenneth Alexander by second-round technical knockout. McIntyre received his walking papers from the UFC following consecutive losses to Alex Karalexis and Mike Budnik.