By: Michael Reel
Changing Our Narrative
We first met Joey Davis in 2011 when he was an all-conference running back, a standout California Interscholastic Federation football player and a two-time California State champion wrestler. During that period Davis became a two-time national champion.
Fast-forward eight years, Davis is now a professional mixed martial arts fighter following a successful collegiate career. Davis competed in wrestling for Notre Dame College of Ohio, where he finished with a 133-0 Division II record while becoming the first wrestler in the history of NCAA Division II to end his entire career with zero defeats.
Undefeated is only one of many adjectives that can be used to describe the record-setting life of Joel Malcolm Davis, a native of Compton California and the author of the recently released memoir, From Compton to Cleveland: Champions Don’t Follow Destiny … They Create It.
“Coming out with my book, I just wanted to let people know I am from Compton. I wanted to let people know there are successful people out of Compton. I wanted people to know dreams do come true out of Compton and one of my dreams came true with my book. The book is just a bonus to my career.”
Today Davis fights as “Black Ice” in bouts staged by Bellator Mixed Martial Arts. In late April of this year our cameras were granted exclusive access to the practice facility where Davis and his fellow MMA fighters train six and sometimes seven days a week. When asked what fuels his drive, Davis discussed his goal: greatness. “Each day I want to get better at what I do. Whatever I do, I just want to become great. But now in MMA, you’ve got to be good at the jujitsu, the boxing, the wrestling and Muay Thai. Each day I step in here it’s just getting one percent better.”
In a prelude to Father’s Day in 2011, Reel Urban News spoke with Davis about his love and admiration for his father, Joel “Big Joey” Davis. “No words – he’s a great dad and I just thank God for him. I’m blessed.” All these years later, “Big Joey” is still right by his son’s side. “My dad is my number one fan and my biggest support. I’m fortunate and blessed to have my father to help me and to push me through circumstances – my dad has been a blessing in disguise.”
Davis, a member of the 2019 graduating class of Notre Dame College, Cleveland, Ohio, was candid yet optimistic while exploring his future. “I’ve accomplished a lot being from Compton and I’ve done things I never thought I could do. God has truly blessed me. Now I’m seeing for myself, how great can I be? What do I really want out of myself and what do I want to be in life ten years from now?”
In the final moments of our profile with Joey Davis, who spoke exclusively with Michael Reel of Reel Urban News, Davis provided a glimpse of who he is and who he has become. “I have two sides to me,” Davis told Reel. “I’ve got the ‘Black Ice’ side then I have the Joel side. ‘Black Ice’ is very dynamic and wants to be the best he can be.”
Mild-mannered outside of the cage, Davis, who has a 5-0 professional MMA record, is all business once inside the cage. “A lot of people don’t know, I switch the script real quick. I want to be the best human being on the planet but in the cage, I want to be the grittiest mother—— you probably will ever meet!”
