Sharice Davids wins MMA Championship Belt
(Written by Marlon WhiteEagle – Staff Writer)
How often do you hear of women in Mixed Martial Arts, let alone Ho-Chunk women training in the sport; a sport that has been becoming more and more popular these days. On January 27, 2012, Ho-Chunk tribal member, Sharice Davids, defeated Chandra Engel at the Voodoo Lounge located at the Harrah’s Casino in Kansas City, Missouri; taking home the Ultimate Blue Corner Battle – 135 pound Championship belt.
Davids is the daughter of Crystal Herriage, a retired U.S. Army Veteran with twenty years of service. Davids is the oldest of three and has two brothers, Matthew and Joshua. At age 20, Davids began studying capoeira, a Brazilian martial art that is based on dance and music which involves kicks, punches, acrobatics, leg sweeps, knee and elbow strikes, and take downs. While studying capoeira for six to seven years, Davids earned her blue/brown belt. In 2006, she began studying tae kwon do and judo. She also holds a blue belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, which she began studying during law school.
Not only does Sharice Davids spend her time training; she also kept her head in the books with hours upon hours of study time. In 2010, Davids earned a law degree from Cornell University Law School. Since then, she has been working for SNR Denton, an international law firm based in London, UK and Washington D.C. Currently, Davids works out of the Kansas City office doing corporate transactions specializing in mergers and acquisitions. She also does Indian Law and Tribal Financing specializing in bond offers.
When she’s not crunching numbers or in a meeting, Davids trains with Fight University six days out of the week, working on improving her style at least an hour to an hour and a half on the weekdays, and three hour work outs on the weekends. She focuses on cardio and conditioning on Sundays. Davids said she gets about a month and a half or more notice of her fights. She also noted that she only gets a minute worth of panic about two to three weeks before her fights, but that thought leaves her mind nearly immediately because of her good ground skills and strong striking power. She is definitely confident of her skills.
Prior to the fight, Davids said, “I hope to keep the fight standing.” She also said, “I’ve been offered a pro fight. I work at least 50 hours a week. Sometimes more and it gets crazy. That's the biggest reason I'm not sure I could handle taking on a pro fight.”
Using the triangle choke, Davids won the fight at 2:36 (two minutes, 36 seconds) in the first round. Davids improved to 6-1 in the octagon; she faced Chandra Engel, who is primarily a wrestler, leaving her with an 8-7 record. Davids said, “Engel was pretty strong and she is a wrestler. I had worked on not getting taken down but she took me down pretty quickly. I just worked my ground game from the back.”
In a post fight interview, Davids noted, “I was back in the gym on Monday. I train because I love martial arts and regardless of whether I am competing I am always striving to be a better martial artist and person.”
Other family cheering and rooting for Sharice were Cari Spera, Ericka Fay, and Alice Wood, who made their way down to Kansas City to show their support. Congratulations Sharice and many more to come.