Tara LaRosa to face Alexis Davis Jan. 23

2008 was supposed to be a big year for Tara LaRosa when she signed a big contract with the American Fight League. But the upstart AFL has gone nowhere and when they tried to schedule a fight for Tara against Roxanne Modafferi for a Nov. 8 show in Chicago, financial terms couldn't be worked out and the fight was cancelled. I have expressed my doubts about the AFL in the past. Who knows if they'll ever do anything? So Tara has taken matters into her own hands and will fight for the first time since Nov. 2007 at the Jan. 23 Exterme Challenge show in Atlantic City. Of course Tara's record is 15-1 and she was women's champ for the now defunct Bodog Fight. Her last win was over Cody Welchin at the Nov. 24, 2007 Hook 'N' Shoot show. I may occasionally get annoyed by Tara's yapping but the bottom line is she's one of the best fighters in the world and very entertaining to watch. So I'm very happy to see her in action.

Extreme Challenge promoter Monte Cox announced today that Tara LaRosa's opponent will be Alexis Davis from Port Colborne, Ontario, Canada. Alexis' record is 6-1 with three submissions. Her most recent win was over Margarita Kolmykova at the Nov. 29 United States Fight League show at the Foxwood Resorts Casino in Connecticut. Her only loss was to Sarah Kaufman in Apr. 2007 and she also won the first ever women's bout in TKO over Valerie Letourneau. She also won over Liz Carreiro on the Apr. 3 Fatal Femmes Fighting show. Alexis is a martial arts instructor at Dave Dayboll's Jiu Jitsu & Fitness Academy in Port Colborne. She holds a black belt in Japanese jiu jitsu and a purple belt in Brazilian jiu jitsu. So it's pretty clear that matwork is her strength. This is Alexis Davis' biggest match to date and though I wish my fellow Canadian good luck, I don't see her beating Tara LaRosa unless Tara takes her lightly. She won't.