UFC signs NCAA champ Phil Davis

The Ultimate Fighting Championship deepened its light heavyweight division with the recent signing of former NCAA Division I national wrestling champion Phil Davis (4-0 MMA, 0-0 UFC).

Davis' management team today announced the signing, though terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Teammate Brandon Vera first announced Davis' signing via Twitter on Tuesday, though Chad Dubin of LionHeart Management told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) a promotional debut date for the 25-year-old fighter has not been determined.

Davis turned pro in 2008 after emerging as a four-time All-American and 2008 Division I national champion at Penn State. His116-20 career record included a 26-1 mark in his senior year, when he won the national championship at 197 pounds.

"After college, when I decided to start training MMA, it was to become the best fighter in the world," Davis stated. "Fighting for the UFC will enable me to ... accomplish that goal. Training and fighting is my life now, and I take this very seriously."

During just 14 months of pro MMA competition, Davis has posted a 4-0 record. The past three victories, which came in organizations such as Palace Fighting Championships and Ultimate Warrior Challenge, have all come via first-round stoppages.

The Pennsylvania native currently trains at the Alliance Training Center in San Diego and the American Kickboxing Academy in San Jose, Calif.

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Another young prospect at 205 in the UFC....

Never seen him fight or heard of him, Im guessing he is good by his record... might look at a few of his fights now.

Looks good to me, very athletic and explosive fighter. You never know we could have a new Jon Jones here. He looks like has some good power here.

Im wondering who they could have as a first opponent for him, its got to be a reasonably easy fight.Im thinking of someone like Kyle Kingsbury, a tough and game but not very skilled opponent. After that maybe Elliot Marshall and then he would be looking for a step-up, some one like Brian Stann, Bonner/Sozynski then Vera/Hammil, then Lil Nog/Jones and then a title shot Maybe im getting ahead of myself.

ChelseaQuinsfan wrote:Looks good to me, very athletic and explosive fighter. You never know we could have a new Jon Jones here. He looks like has some good power here.

Im wondering who they could have as a first opponent for him, its got to be a reasonably easy fight.Im thinking of someone like Kyle Kingsbury, a tough and game but not very skilled opponent. After that maybe Elliot Marshall and then he would be looking for a step-up, some one like Brian Stann, Bonner/Sozynski then Vera/Hammil, then Lil Nog/Jones and then a title shot Maybe im getting ahead of myself.

Good pick there Chelsea.


I hope he wins this weekend. i think he will win comfortably using his wrestling to UD vitory.

haha cheers, id laugh if it goes exactly the way I predicted.

A HW fight between 1 guy weighing 209 and another weighing 206?? WTF??

He looks a great prospect. Needs a new nickname though.

Also a point to mention is that, he won a gold medal in no-gi world jiu-jitsu championship last november as a blue belt. So he knows his way around the grappling and Submissions department.

Looks like a great fighter, and judging by his wrestling and BJJ credentials that Red just mentioned, potential to to far.

Lets not get to ahead of ourselves though, this guys hardly tough competition, he got dropped by a jab. Possibly the sign of a class striker, more likely just a soft chin.

If Chelsea is right about everything, he deserves a medal

was yawning until you talked about the no-gi bjj stuff.

a wrestler with gnp or submissions that can finish fights is an exciting prospect.

BTW i might aswell mention it here, Joe Warren is back to wrestling at least for now.

shame because he has buckets of potential in mma, he has striking somewhat successfully with KID afterall.

http://mmabay.co.uk/Video%2010028.html



The guy is quite a character isnt he, i just hope he is more prepared than what he led us to believe.

Meanie, the KO in you avator is possibly the most vicious i've ever seen!

http://www.clinchgear.com/clinchpic/2010/02/i-just-got-to-ea-sports-party.html?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

Davis is a 'ClinchGear team athlete'! Photo 8

watching the weigh ins this guy has the biggest shoulders i have ever seen, also looks like he cut alot of weight.

I watched it too, he looked freakishly ripped

His performance really impressed me.

I'm an old man so i fell asleep last night before the event started. I downloaded it and just finished watching. I'm really glad i didn't bother staying awake. Davis might just be the best wrestler in the UFC. He's going to be a top 10 guy before the end of this year IMO.

UFC 109, Night of the Wrestlers.... Jesus I dont think I can watch any wrestlers for a long time now, Davis was totally dominant but after seen him and Sonnen pin their man down for a combined time of half an hour It got really frustrating!! I hate Wrestlers, Worst Style in MMA to watch by a long way.

Glad Paulo Thiago picked up a really nice win, great shots on the feet and a great Sub. I was about to Change my pick because when I saw the Buildup I though he looked really crisp on the pads. Glad he won, Swick is a prick and now Saunders might get the rematch he is after.

Not the best event Ive ever seen, Disapointed with Marquardt and gutting to see Coleman is such a state.

There was nothing frustrating about the Davis fight, he was constantly going for Gnp and Subs to finish the fight, he kept the pace up for whole 15 mins. He was so close to finish the fight. One time the buzzer was only thing that stopped him. I really enjoyed it.


As for Sonnen, he beat the crap out of Nate yesterday on the ground, Nate just landed one elbow that cut him, and had a choke at the end but Sonnen escaped. That fight was great yesterday.

I'd rather see these type of fights, than two fighter with sub par kick boxing, stand up tentatively against each other for 15 mins doing nothing.

Sonnen never tried to finish the fight. Nate had two great chokes and split him with the elbow. Sonnen's wrestling and control were impressive but he's still a dick!

redmeanie77 wrote:There was nothing frustrating about the Davis fight, he was constantly going for Gnp and Subs to finish the fight, he kept the pace up for whole 15 mins. He was so close to finish the fight. One time the buzzer was only thing that stopped him. I really enjoyed it.


As for Sonnen, he beat the crap out of Nate yesterday on the ground, Nate just landed one elbow that cut him, and had a choke at the end but Sonnen escaped. That fight was great yesterday.

I'd rather see these type of fights, than two fighter with sub par kick boxing, stand up tentatively against each other for 15 mins doing nothing.

True the Davis fight wasnt too bad, Maia fight was bad though, a lot of fights were just bad style matchups, one of the least exciting cards for a while, Even the undercard, Guilard's fight wasnt quite as actionpacked as ID have though, and Gracie was piss poor! Im saure Hauge vs Tuchs was a snoozefest too!

Still Sonnen wasnt Lnp'ing on Nate, he was always busy with head and body shots. And really took it too Nate for 15 mins. See how exhausted he was after the fight. Nate is tough guy to finish.

No he wasnt dryhumping him he was doing damage and Wearing Nate out, he said he didnt think he had the power to KO him and was going to grind out a 15mins win... thing is I dont enjoy watching Wrestlers, Sonnen Showed some great Wrestling skills but I Just dont appreciate Wrestling these days, I dont enjoy it to watch as a style in general, Half of the time it seems Wrestlers are happy to play out the clock when they are in top spot or are throwing just to stay on top and pick up the points.