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It looked as boring as a Floyd Mayweather boxing bout, but like Money always does, Phil Davis got the win.
Avoiding the Bombs
The #6 ranked light heavyweight contender Phil Davis stuck to his game plan and wrestled former number one contender Glover Texeira for three rounds to score a unanimous decision win over the Brazilian in the co-main event of UFC 179 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Knowing Texeira’s reputation as one of the sport’s most prolific knockout artists, Davis utilized his collegiate All-American wrestling background to avoid Texeira’s bombs and dominate his opponent for three straight rounds.
Takedown Was Theme
As soon as the bout began, Davis kept the fight in the clinch and tried to shoot an early takedown on the heavy handed Texeira. According to fight stats, Davis had a total of 18 takedown attempts. And while Glover Texeira defended half of them, Davis was able to take advantage of his opponent in each of the nine times he put him on the mat.
Texeira tried to turtle up each time he Davis took him down, but Mr. Wonderful was smart enough to take his back each time and land short punches to the face and knees to the midsection to slow down the Brazilian. As the fight continued, Davis was relentless in frustrating his opponent who was unable to land any significant blow.
After the bout, Davis admitted to pretending not to be hurt with the limited shots that Texeira was able to land on him. Although all the judges scored the bout 30-27 in favor of Davis, the 30-year old Pennsylvania native said it was a “tough fight.”
The Brazilian Killer
The win gave Davis a 3-0 record when fighting in Brazil. Texeira was the second favored Brazilian whom he beat in Rio de Janeiro. Davis outclassed former UFC light heavyweight champion Lyoto Machida during their UFC 163 match last year. He also defeated Wagner Pablo at UFC 153.
After the bout, Fox Sports analyst and former UFC fighter Brian Stann asked Davis about his “Brazilian Killer” reputation. Davis replied with a quote from a Wesley Snipes movie and said “Always bet on black.” When pressed to give a name for his next fight, Davis said that he would love to fight former UFC Middleweight king Anderson Silva, who was on hand for the event.
Davis has been close to a title shot in the past and the win over the 4th ranked Texeira could put him closer to the gold once again. But while he was dominant in defeating Texeira, it may be a different story against the top dogs of the division. Although Davis holds a win over Alexander Gustafsson in 2012, that was way before Gus became the top fighter he is right now.
