(It’s good to see that someone finally gave Starvin Marvin something to eat.)
According to a tweet sent out by UFC Brazil, light heavyweight grappling whiz Phil Davis will be the man to replace Chael Sonnen against Forrest Griffin at UFC 155. When Sonnen passed over Griffin for a TUF coaching gig and light heavyweight title shot against Jon Jones, everyone from Stephan Bonnar to Antonio Rogerio Nogueira were being rumored as potential opponents for Griffin, who is coming off a unanimous decision victory over longtime rival Tito Ortiz in their trilogy match at UFC 148.
After coming up short in a tedious affair against Rashad Evans in the headlining match of UFC on FOX 2, Davis was looking to rebound against Wagner Prado at UFC on FOX 4, but an unfortunate eye poke resulted in an unsatisfying no-contest being declared. Davis and Prado met again at UFC 153, where Davis was able to secure a brilliant second round submission via anaconda choke victory. It was the same submission Davis used to defeat top light heavyweight prospect Alexander Gustafsson back at UFC 112 in April of 2010. If you’re keeping track, the current record for fighters who were the victims of a fight-ending eye poke in immediate rematches is now 1-3 (Scott Smith, Waachiim Spiritwolf, and Prado all came up short, with only Anthony Johnson managing to earn some revenge).
Griffin has never been submitted in his MMA career, and should enjoy a healthy advantage in the standup against the wrestling-based Davis. That being said, Griffin’s cardio has looked less than stellar lately — mainly his garbage ass third round against Ortiz at UFC 148 — so expect to see Davis drag this fight into the latter rounds and attempt to secure a late ground and pound stoppage or a grappling heavy decision.
Fans and critics alike have been questioning Griffin’s heart for some time now, but a win over a legitimate prospect like Davis would undoubtedly shut up at least a few of his haters should he pull it off. With retirement looming on the horizon for one of the most charismatic (at least at one time) guys in the division, we’d really like to see FoGriff go out on a solid win or two. Above all else, we just hope he doesn’t decide to go for a post-fight jog before the decision is read this time.
Eye of the tiger, Forrest. Eye of the tiger.
Who do you like for this one, Potato Nation?