Can’t blame Phil Davis for trying.
The UFC light heavyweight is still interested in a fight with MMA legend Anderson Silva, he said at a media lunch last week in Los Angeles to promote UFC on FOX 14: Gustafsson vs. Johnson. Davis brought it up after beating Glover Teixeira at UFC 179. “Mr. Wonderful” is undefeated in his career in Brazil and would like to fight Silva there one day.
“Stranger things have happened,” Davis said.
Sure. But the bout is still pretty unlikely. Silva takes on Nick Diaz at UFC 183 on Jan. 31 in Las Vegas. If he wins, the former UFC middleweight champion will get a shot at his old title. Meanwhile, Davis takes on Ryan Bader at UFC on FOX 14 on Saturday in Sweden. Davis has won three of four and is hunting for a light heavyweight title shot.
“The Spider” is one of the greatest MMA fighters of all time and undoubtedly the greatest UFC champion ever. Silva held the middleweight belt for seven years, including a record 10 title defenses. He remains one of the most popular fighters on the planet. It’s understandable why Davis would want to fight Silva.
“Why wouldn’t I?” Davis said. “Why wouldn’t he?”
Silva, 39, probably has plenty of reasons. He is coming off two straight losses to Chris Weidman, the last of which came when he broke his leg in gruesome fashion. In Diaz, he’s taking on a welterweight moving up to 185. Davis is a large light heavyweight. But “Mr. Wonderful” doesn’t think it would be that big of a deal for Silva.
“He fought former light heavyweight champion Forrest Griffin at light heavyweight,” Davis said. “It’s not a stretch. Forrest is an extremely heavy guy.
“I figure, ‘OK if you can beat Forrest at light heavyweight, I’m just little old Phil.’ I’m just little old Phil. That’s what they call me.”
Davis, 30, is playing coy. He would be a difficult matchup for Silva with his dominant wrestling and strong grappling. But hey, maybe those kinds of challenges are what Silva is looking for late in his career. Who knows?
“If he wanted to fight me, he could definitely fight me,” Davis said. “Just saying.”