Las Vegas Sun
Phil Davis flexes on the scale during an official weigh-in for UFC 109 at the Mandalay Bay Events Center Friday, February 5, 2010.
Friday, March 25, 2011 | 2:05 a.m.
It’s appropriate that UFC Fight Night 24 comes one week after Jon Jones won the light heavyweight championship at UFC 128.
The Fight Night card, which airs via tape delay on Spike at 10 p.m. Saturday from Seattle, is headlined by the man many believe will someday emerge as Jones’ foremost rival. Phil Davis (8-0) has the talent to eventually challenge for the light heavyweight title.
“It’s an honor that people think I’ll fight for the belt one day,” Davis said.
Davis takes on former PRIDE standout Antonio Rogerio Nogueira (19-4) in the main event of UFC Fight Night 24. It’s a step up in competition for Davis, who has flown his way up the UFC ranks since joining the organization a year ago.
In many ways, his UFC path mirrors Jones’. Davis won an NCAA championship as a college wrestler at Penn State — Jones won a title during his junior college days — before training in MMA.
Davis discovered a natural knack for fighting and finished five of his first eight opponents with three coming via submission and two by knockout. Jones finished in six of his first eight fights with five knockouts and one submission.
If Davis can get by Nogueira, it will be his fifth UFC win in 13 months and put him only a couple victories from a championship bout. It took Jones two-and-a-half years and seven fights to receive a title shot.
“He was able to accomplish so much in a relatively short period of time,” Davis said. “So, I don’t know how I can’t look at him and be a little bit inspired.”
The question that surrounded Jones and now has switched over to Davis was if the UFC was moving them too fast up the weight class. Jones always shook it off and said he was ready, but Davis appears more cautious.
Davis said fighting five times in 13 months wasn’t ideal because it hadn’t left him much time to focus on improving his training between bouts.
“It’s not really the way I would have liked to have started off my UFC career,” Davis said, “but I’m here and healthy so I really can’t complain much.”
The reason Davis keeps receiving quick turnaround fights is because he’s never faced any serious adversity in the octagon. None of his opponents have hurt him enough to take him out for any extended period of time.
Nogueira has the power to do so as a skilled boxer. He’s also well known as a Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt and trained with Davis less than a year ago.
“I thought he was a very tough guy,” Nogueira said through a translator. “He’s very strong in wrestling, very strong in ground skills.”
Nogueira was originally slated to fight Tito Ortiz in this weekend’s main event. When Ortiz suffered a severe facial laceration and canceled, UFC came to Davis to fill the void.
Davis didn’t immediately take the fight. Concerned whether he was prepared for someone of Nogueira’s caliber, Davis had to confer with his coaches before making a decision.
“It’s a great opportunity but, at the same time, it’s a huge challenge,” Davis said. “I talked it over with my coaches and everybody on my team. We made sure it was a fight that made sense.”
Case Keefer can be reached at 948-2790 or [email protected]. Follow Case on Twitter at twitter.com/casekeefer.
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