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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief
In a highly surprising upset on Saturday's UFC 179 card, Phil Davis defeated Glover Teixeira with a superior wrestling game that flustered the most recent Light Heavyweight Title challenger for 15 minutes.
Davis felt he accomplished what he set out to do with his performance, dominating the grappling portion of the fight from bell to bell.
"I had to make a statement tonight and I wanted to win every round and win every minute of every round," Davis said on the Fox Sports 1 post-show Saturday night.
Davis had more surprises in store, as he called out Anderson Silva in the cage after the win. He addressed that on the post-fight show as well, insisting it was a call out rooted in respect.
"He's the triple crown of Brazilians," Davis said of Silva. "He's fought tough guys out of his class before. He's a great guy. I have nothing but respect for him. This is the fight game. It's nothing personal. He's the best there is."
Penick's Analysis: Silva has certainly fought many worse fighters than Davis throughout his career, but I don't know that this is a marquee fight that Silva or the UFC would really be all that interested in booking. Of course, the fact that Davis has a highly questionable decision win over Silva's teammate and friend Lyoto Machida could lead to some interest from the former Champion, but I still don't know that this is a fight the UFC wants to make.
[Phil Davis art by Grant Gould (c) MMATorch.com]
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Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
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