Phil Davis and his current status..

Where do you see him right now? Besides the loss to Rashad Evans, who is basically in the top 4 guys at light heavyweight right now, he has been unbeaten and basically unstoppable. Although he beat Gustafsson a while ago, he still beat him. He decimated Prado and would have done the same to Forrest.

My question(s) to you are; Where is he in ranking with the rest of the fighters in the division, and who should he fight next?

 

He needs to heavily focus on his striking cause its sloppy at best.

He's a top ten and in the future top five fighter but he still needs work.
The Evans fight brought his stock down because of how out of place he looked fighting a top fighter.

 

He needs a step up and needs to start fighting top 5 pound for pound fighters on the division. He has sown that he deserves that, he has beat most competition easily other than Rashad.

A match with Hamill, Bader, or the loser of Machida/Henderson would be a good step up

 

He will become a top 5 this year, his needs to work on his striking but his wrestling is top notch and he generates alot of power from short distances, slick submmisions, the only one who has beat Gus and i think he can do it again it would be a grappling clinic.

 

I think Gustafsson passed him up in 2012. Davis' biggest win since beating Gustafsson in 2010 was an unimpressive decision over 'Lil Nog. Meanwhile, Gustafsson has won 6 straight over guys like Shogun, Thiago Silva, Te Huna, Hamill, Matyushenko.

Soon as Davis gets some wins over relevant Top 10 guys, he will surely move up, but his career has been stuck in neutral as of late.

 

Top 5 pound for pound in the division?

What the fuck does that mean?

 

He hasn't figured out how to be exciting. For that reason, he won't get as many relevant fights and his road to a title shot will be very long. See Jon Fitch for further reference.

 

I wanna see him fight Vinny M.

 

TS brings up a good question. He lost to Rashad but I can't think of anyone else other than jones I can see him not wrestling to death.

Maybe a fight with machida would do good or hendo. That's about it off the top of my head.

I think the loss to Rashad boosted Rashad's stock significantly more than anything else.

 

Agreed, good fight. At least Davis will not just lay on Vinny because he will get submitted. The problem is we might get a boring kickboxing match as a result.

 

Hamill is not a good step up

 

davis could probably still beat gustafsson today via grappling

 

In ranking? Maybe. But I would honestly say Davis would beat Gus if they fight again, though they probably won't.

Nonetheless, Davis fought a fighter in Rashad who is better than anyone Gus has fought and would lose just the same.

Point being, Gus and Davis are in the same place, beating gate keepers but hasn't beaten title contenders.

 

I think we've pretty much seen his peak. That's not to say he'll slip, but I don't think he can beat the top guys, i.e. Rashad, Machida, Jones, and I'd say Gus takes him this time around, and I'd give Shogun the edge as well. I just don't ever see him becoming a great fighter. I don't think he has the demeanor for it. His wrestling is good but not great, and his striking is just ok. I think Mousasi would be an interesting fight for him, or maybe Thiago Silva, or the Glover-Rampage winner. Magalhaes perhaps.

 

I agree. I think he will stay around the peak is at now. He'll beat anyone they put in front of him that is not top 5

 

His striking is sub-par. He will lose to any top-ten fighter he can't repeatedly take down.