Alexis Davis' most Herculean effort during UFC 186 fight week came not from braving the salvo of blows she ate from rival Sarah Kaufman, nor from capturing the miraculous second-round armbar that felled Kaufman for the first time in three tries. Rather, it took the form of a conversation the morning after, when Davis awoke to news her sister Jessica had until then spared her, and suddenly the world of octagons and four-ounce gloves felt so small.
Earlier this month, doctors diagnosed Davis' niece, Hayden, with neuroblastoma, a form of cancer which aggressively attacks the sympathetic nervous system.