Phil 'Mr. Wonderful' Davis
Former UFC light heavyweight champ Forrest Griffin (19-7) has a new opponent in talented wrestler Phil ‘Mr. Wonderful’ Davis (10-1) after his original opponent, Chael Sonnen, was named to a coaching gig on season 17 of “The Ultimate Fighter” opposite division title holder Jon Jones.
News of the matchup was announced on Friday, with the promotion confirming that both Griffin and Davis had verbally agreed to the UFC 155 fight. Also confirmed for the December card is a heavyweight title bout between Junior dos Santos vs. Chain Velasquez for the main event, a middleweight match featuring Chris Weidman vs. Tim Boetsch, and a lightweight matchup between Gray Maynard vs. Joe Lauzon.
UFC 155: Dos Santos vs. Velasquez II is expected to take place on December 29, 2012 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.
From the announcement at UFC.com earlier today.
Fresh from his dominant win over Wagner Prado at UFC 153 earlier this month, rising light heavyweight star Phil “Mr. Wonderful” Davis has received his next assignment: a high-profile UFC 155 battle against former 205-pound champion Forrest Griffin on the UFC’s year-end event in Las Vegas on December 29.
The bout has been verbally agreed to.
Griffin was last in action this past July at UFC 148, earning a second victory over Tito Ortiz in their trilogy bout. Griffin won a unanimous decision over the UFC Hall of Fame fighter, as well as earning a “Fight of the Night” bonus for the fight. The victory allowed Griffin to bounce back from a knockout loss to Mauricio ‘Shogun’ Rua in August of 2011 at UFC 134. The original “Ultimate Fighter” is 3-1 over his last four.
Davis is coming off a solid one-sided victory over Wagner Prado just last weekend in Rio de Janeiro in the two fighters rematch following a “No Contest” in August at UFC on FOX 4 after an accidental eye poke by ‘Mr. Wonderful.’ The win was Davis’ first in three matches, with the back-to-back fights with Prado and a decision loss to Rashad Evans in January in a No. 1 contender match. That defeat was the first of Davis pro-career.