Bellator
Phil Davis feels he would "have to" accept fight with Fedor Emelianenko if offered
Sep 29, 2015 - 7:30:08 PM Phil Davis feels he would "have to" accept fight with Fedor Emelianenko if offered

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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

Phil Davis began a new chapter in his MMA career in Bellator just over a week ago, winning the one-night only tournament at "Dynamite 1." Now aligned with Spike, there's another potential opportunity which could come his way: a fight with Fedor Emelianenko.

With "The Last Emperor" signing with former Pride boss Nobuyuki Sakakibara's new promotion, and that promotion coming to a broadcast agreement with Spike in the U.S., fighters on the Bellator roster could be potential opponents for New Year's Eve. Asked this week if he'd take that fight, Davis said it's something he'd absolutely be interested in doing.

"Man I'd have to," he said in an interview with Submission Radio. "I'd have to. It's like, how could I not? I just...I don't know. He's a legend in the sport. It's one thing if you lose to Joe Schmo. But if you lose to Michael Jordan, people go, 'you know what? You did good against Mike.' You know (laughs)? There's competing, and that's like a fight that anybody gets up for, you get super excited for. Is he the best Fedor we've ever seen? Who knows? I would lean against no. But at the same time, I wouldn't count that man out of nothing. I'm gonna come at that man like he has a weapon in his pocket. Okay? Like he's that good."

As for why Emelianenko went somewhere other than the UFC, Davis believes money and money alone played the biggest part in that decision.

"Well you see, that's a business thing," Davis said. "Like, Fedor's been able to make some good business decisions throughout his career. And the reason why he didn't go in [to the UFC], or the reason why he is where he is, is entirely business. Here's a guy who doesn't feel the need to quote, unquote 'prove' himself against whomever someone else says, 'you need to prove yourself against this guy.' No, he's comfortable in himself to say 'I'll fight whoever gets in this cage' and he will go throughout his career that way. Which is, you know, there's something to be said about having that chip on your shoulder and wanting to fight the best guys.

"But at the same time, and business-wise he's never - well I don't know about never, but not recently - he has not recently taken that pay cut to quote, unquote 'fight the best guys.'"

Penick's Analysis: Though Davis is a light heavyweight, he wouldn't be giving up any size to take a "heavyweight" bout with Emelianenko, who has often fought at the lower end of the heavyweight scale. Indeed, Davis likely walks around at a similar weight to Emelianenko before cutting to 205 lbs. Given a complete lack of intriguing names in the heavyweight division outside of the UFC, Emelianenko, Sakakibara, and Spike could do a hell of a lot worse than Davis on New Year's Eve. Will that happen? Who knows at this stage; it's far too early to speculate on what exactly the plans are, and until we get more information about the event itself it'll be hard to determine just what they're thinking about in general for that card.

[Phil Davis art by Grant Gould (c) MMATorch.com]