During the past few months, many of the UFC’s top fighters have been plagued by injuries, the latest being light heavyweight champion and Greg Jackson prodigy, Jon Jones.
The highly anticipated bout between two former friends, Rashad Evans and Jon Jones, has been postponed due to Jones getting injured during training when he tore a ligament in his right hand.
Evans’ last scheduled bout with then-champion Mauricio “Shogun” Rua was also postponed when Rua was injured during training. Evans chose to wait for Rua to heal and for his shot at regaining the light UFC heavyweight title, a decision that he has come to regret.
This time, while not a title shot, Evans will not be waiting on his opponent as the undefeated and very hungry, Phil “Mr. Wonderful” Davis steps up to replace the champion in what could be a three-round war between two of the sport’s best wrestlers.
While Evans and Jones continue their newfound grudge via Twitter, Davis is focused on only one thing: his fight with Evans at UFC 133.
Stepping up and seizing the opportunity is nothing new to Davis. He stepped up to replace Tito Ortiz in his last fight against former PRIDE fighter, Antonio Rogerio Nogueira also known as, “Little Nog”. Davis beat Nogueria by unanimous decision, controlling him with his superior wrestling.
According to Eric Fontanez at MMA Weekly, Davis is preparing for a battle against an opponent of equal, if not better wrestling skills.
“He’s someone I should definitely be concerned about with my skill set…I expect a pretty good fight,” Davis said.
“I invite the opportunity to face someone of his level of wrestling and I think I’ll be fine.”
Regardless of Evans’ wrestling ability, Davis plans on controlling the fight.
“I like to think I’m going to be the one controlling the pace of any fight,” he said. “And I don’t think this will be any different.
“I will take this fight wherever it wants to go.”
Even though Davis is undefeated, he will be facing an experienced former champion with only one loss on his record and who has been in deep water before.
Considering each of these great athletes wrestling experience, this fight could turn out to be a high-paced wrestling match. Regardless, Davis is facing the biggest test and challenge of his career.
For Davis, it’s just another opportunity, one that leads to a light heavyweight title shot and one he doesn’t plan on losing.
“Losing was never something I planned on doing.”
Davis told MMA Heat’s Karyn Bryant that it makes no difference to him who he fights.
“To me it’s not about fighting people. I don’t care if you can beat this guy or that guy. I want to have the belt.”
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