If nothing else, Stephen Peterson is plenty tough.
The unheralded Plano, Texas native made his UFC debut at UFC Austin on Sunday night, and took quite a bit of damage in his featherweight matchup with Brandon Davis.
Davis dictated the flow and pace and earned a unanimous decision in an entertaining main-card scrap. The judges’ scores were 30-27, 29-28, and 30-26.
The winner landed early and often in the opening round, setting the tone for the fight. The second was more of the same, though Davis appeared to slow toward the end of the round as Peterson picked up the pace.
Davis found his second wind in the final round, leading to an entertaining finish. Davis landed a big knee which would have finished other competitors, but bloodied Peterson (16-7) seemed to wake up after the strike, and spent most of the final minute pursuing flashy strikes, ultimately to no avail.
“Yeah I was like man, I think we got fight of the night and I was trying to get knockout of the night, but he kept going,” Davis said. “Congrats to him on that.”
Davis (9-3) took the fight on a quick turnaround after dropping a deicision to Kyle Bochniak in his UFC debut at UFC 220 last month.
“I had to come and prove the last fight was a fluke,” Davis said. “Someone running from me is not a fight.”