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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief
Phil Davis will be fighting Vinny Magalhaes this April at UFC 159, taking the fight after Magalhaes talked his way into it on Twitter. However, he has plenty to say about Magalhaes talking his way into the fight, as well as where he believes his opponent sits in the light heavyweight division. Those thoughts were poured out on Monday in an interview with Ariel Helwani on The MMA Hour on Monday. Here's what Davis had to say in a tirade on Monday:
"It's one thing if you want to call a guy out, that's fine. I don't really call people out, that's not what I do, but if that's what you do, cool, no problem. But, after my buddy Forrest [Griffin] got hurt at 155, [Magalhaes] called me out while I was still in Brazil, I had just got done fighting, I was still in the arena, and he tweets he wants to fight me next. That's cool. That's really cool. I'm actually kind of amazed, I always wanted to be at level where guys call me out, It's weird that I'm at a level where 'I want to fight this guy.' I thought I was a nobody, and here, he proves me wrong by calling me out. That's awesome. Now, if you have the opportunity to fight me, you can't back down after you already have agreed. It's just silly. The guy, he's silly.
I don't want to start quoting from all his excuses, because this is only an hour-long show and we just don't have time for that. First he said he was overweight, then he said, I didn't want to get hurt, if he had a real fight camp he would beat me, blah blah blah blah. You forfeit your rights to this thing once you call people out. Take Chael Sonnen for example. Whether you love the guy or hate the guy, if he calls you out, he will fight you on a week's notice, that's who he is, he's Chael Sonnen. Vinny, he ain't that guy, I don't know who he is.
If I say simply, 'he's not on my level, he doesn't deserve to be fighting me,' I feel like that sounds worse than it actually is. It almost sounds like I'm talking about his character as a person rather than his fighting skills, so, I'm going to word it a little differently and say what he's done in the UFC, which is one win, I guess you can count his old two losses, doesn't really warrant him a fight with me. But, you know, I don't do matchmaking, that's entirely up to Joe Silva, he's a genius, I'm just going to go with what he says. I don't question him. The man knows what he's doing.
I'm up for every fight. My only hope is, I hope the evening of April 27, when he gets back to his hotel room, I hope he doesn't think to himself, what did I do this for? Why did I call this man out, it doesn't make any sense? I could have fought somebody who wasn't top ten, I could have fought someone who wasn't top five, I could have fought somebody I could have beat and came home without two black eyes and a bruised ego. Why did I call this guy out? I hope he doesn't say that, but most likely he will.
Penick's Analysis: Davis isn't known for confrontation or being very vocal in the lead up to his fights, but Magalhaes has obviously brought something out of him. He didn't hold back at all, and has hooked into Magalhaes not fighting him at UFC 155 to drive his point home. Magalhaes is extremely talented, but Davis isn't wrong about his UFC record, and the fact that he hasn't necessarily proven himself at the highest levels yet. That's what this fight is for, and Magalhaes has succeeded in getting himself the fight he was looking for. He's also succeeded in aggravating Davis, which could either work in his favor to have Davis emotional into the fight, or could work against him with Davis using that irritation as motivation. Either way, the fight is on for April 27, and it's going to be highly intriguing for that UFC 159 card.
[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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