Penticton fighter faces off against former Ultimate Fighter

PENTICTON – Clay Davidson has a pretty simple strategy for his Friday night fight: Win.

The Penticton mixed-martial art fighter will face off against former Ultimate Fighter contestant Kalib Axel Starnes at the Barefoot Beach Battle.

Davidson said he's in the best shape of his life and feels the fight could go any direction. "The game plan is just to win."

He was originally booked to fight another contestant but an injury meant fighting Starnes.

"I prefer to fight Kalib," Davidson said. "He's a bigger name. He's a guy who's somewhat of an idol or hero to me when I got into the sport."

Davidson would prefer to take the fight to the ground (wrestle) as per his style.

"I'm definitely more of a ground guy," Davidson said. "I would like to take guys down. It's a little bit safer down there. You don't have to worry about getting knocked out with a lucky punch."

When asked what has been his biggest fight he laughed.

"You're next fight is always your biggest fight, right? You could be the undercard and the first fight of the night and that could be your biggest fight."

The Five Star Fight League battle takes place at the Barefoot Beach Resort with the gates opening at 6 p.m. and the action starting at 7 p.m.

To contact a reporter for this story, to send photos or videos, email Shannon Quesnel at squesnel@infotelnews.ca, call 250-488-3065 or tweet @shannonquesnel1