If you haven’t heard, top 10 light heavyweight Phil Davis left the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) to sign with rivalry promotion, Bellator MMA.
Staff Roundtable: Phil Davis heads to Bellator
He is the latest current top 10 fighter to leave the premier MMA promotion; although, it’s a different scenario than the release of Jake Shields, Jon Fitch and Yushin Okami because Davis left the promotion as a free agent. This meant his current contract with Zuffa expired, and the Viacom-owned organization offered to sign him. Zuffa, at this time, had the option to match this offer and re-sign Davis but they chose not to.
Davis owns wins over the likes of Alexander Gustafsson, Lyoto Machida, and more recently Glover Teixeira. Although, in one of his most crucial UFC bouts — his most recent outing — vs. Ryan Bader earlier this year, he failed to pick up a win, and put on an unimpressive performance.
The loss of Davis may not seem like too big of a deal because he his style is often times boring, and hasn’t appeared to improve his overall game over the five years he’s been with the promotion. Although, anytime the UFC cuts or doesn’t re-sign a top 10 fighter it’s a big deal…especially when promotions like Bellator add an elite fighter to their roster.
What does the entire Phil Davis-UFC-Bellator situation mean? Was it a mistake for the UFC to let Davis go, to allow Bellator to pick him up? Was it good for the promotion because of his style?
MMASucka.com staff discuss below.
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Nick Baldwin: I’d like to kick this roundtable off by simply saying I was very surprised when the news broke that ‘Mr. Wonderful’ signed with Bellator. The UFC wants to limit other promotions to top fighters, and despite the fact that Davis may not be the most improving and entertaining fighter, he’s still one of the best in the shallow 205-pound division, and will serve as a nice addition to Bellator’s roster. Not just was I surprised, I instantly felt the UFC made a mistake, for the reason I just stated.
On the other hand, this may draw more eyes to Bellator, which is exactly what the UFC doesn’t want happening, but if they’re not willing to pay Davis a salary he’s worth, then so be it. Good on Bellator for jumping on this opportunity and picking up one of the best light heavyweight fighters on the planet. He struggles to defeated top three competition but easily mauls top 10 fighters, like we saw at UFC 179 when he fought Teixeira.
Overall, I’m slightly disappointed. Am I going to dearly miss Davis’ style in the Octagon? Not so much. But unlike some people, I like watching elite mixed martial artists even if they aren’t an Anthony Pettis or a brawler like Diego Sanchez. With that being said — this may surprise some — but Bellator cards will look more attractive (to me, anyways) and I’d be down to see Davis pick up Bellator gold, and work his way back to the No. 1 MMA promotion on Earth.
Davis clearly stated that the move wasn’t anything personal, strictly because Bellator offered him more money. We all know fighter pay isn’t good, so fighters need to fight in whatever promotion will offer them the most money. Fighters get more exposure in the UFC, of course, but sub-top five fighters only care about one thing… cash.
Jeremy Brand: Like the rest of the MMA community I was shocked when Phil Davis was signed by UFC’s competition — Bellator.
However, after thinking about it, I believe the UFC did the right thing. They have let guys go in the past (Jon Fitch and Yushin Okami) that were highly ranked, but were not fan friendly. By that, I mean they went in the cage with the “win” mentality. Not looking for the finish, instead doing everything they could just to win. Unfortunately for Davis, this is where he sat. He would bore not only the fans in attendance, forcing them to boo, but also the fans at home watching on the TV.
The problem with fighters like this, is that they aren’t very marketable. Davis has a highly touted NCAA career and that’s what he utilizes in the cage. His wrestling kept him amongst the best in the 205-pound division, but the problem with that is his snoozefest of a style helped him pick up victories against highly ranked fighters, such as Lyoto Machida and Glover Teixeira.
I believe this to be the reason why the organization chose not to re-sign “Mr. Wonderful.” He wasn’t bringing in the dollars and he was making potential title challengers drop in the rankings due to his humpfest style.
Nate Grotenhuis: I’ll just come out and say this right off the bat – Phil Davis going to Bellator is a win-win for literally everyone involved.
You have Davis, an accomplished wrestler with an impressive 13-3 (1 no contest) record, who owns victories over past/current top 10 fighters, and even a former champion, in Lyoto Machida. He’s an impressive physical specimen and has a great resume and skill set to back it up. However, when you get down to it, he’s just not good enough to be a champion. So, in reality, he’s a high end wrestler who was poised to be nothing more than a gate keeper in the UFC’s 205lb division. That all changed, though, when Davis signed with Bellator.
The fans are winners here, because now we have the OPTION to watch a Phil Davis fight, or to skip right past it. Davis’ past five or six UFC fights have all been highly slotted main card fights, most on pay-per-view. This meant to get to the main event (the real fight you were all paying for or tuning in to see) you had to sit through a Phil Davis snooze fest. Now that he’s over at Bellator (and will likely be headlining or co-headlining, almost exclusively on shows you’re not paying for) you can either DVR the fights and skip over it, or shut the TV off before his fight comes on.
How is the UFC a winner is this scenario you say? Well, although they lost a top ranked fighter in a shallow division, they dumped a decent amount of salary off their payroll and now have one less gatekeeper to turn away potential contenders. Anything Phil Davis could do in terms of drawing power or skill set Ryan Bader, Ovince St Preux, Patrick Cummings and a bunch of other fighters at 205lb can certainly make up for. As well, with all these lawsuits going on this helps prove the UFC’s point that Bellator is a “viable contender” or a “good second option” for fighters to go to.
In this scenario Bellator gets a guy with a pretty recognizable name, good skill set, and some added depth to what is one of their stronger divisions. Davis joins the likes of Tito Ortiz, Liam McGeary, Emanuel Newton, King Mo Lawal and many others. There’s no shortage of marketable fights for Davis in the promotion and although he didn’t move the needle too much in the UFC and isn’t exactly a whizz on the mic, you can bet people will tune in to see how he does.
The biggest winner out of this entire thing easily has to be Phil Davis himself. He gets more money, a fresh start with plenty of new match ups and most of all, he has a chance to reinvent himself as a fighter and a brand, if he so chooses. Davis quite easily has the skill set to run through Bellator’s entire 205lb roster, but it will be HOW he goes about it that’s important. Say he Ben Askren’s his way to the belt – goes undefeated in the promotion, but puts all the viewers to sleep in the process. Will that make Bellator happy or anyone else want to be a fan of his? No, not at all. But, if Davis were to give his image a bit more of a boost, take advantage of the TV time, as well as put a little bit of spunk into his fights and manage to reel off some impressive finishes, he can easily be the best thing to happen to Bellator in the past five years.
Justin Pierrot: Am I the only one not surprised by this? Scott Coker had a history of this with Strikeforce, signing away Dan Henderson from the UFC. He wasn’t going to be winning titles with Zuffa, but he could draw eyes and the news gave the promotion a boost in attention. It’s a smart move for Coker and Bellator because, hey, Phil Davis can talk. He’s a much better brand representative – and fighter) -than Tito Ortiz or Stephan Bonnar, and his unique look (superhero physique with pink trunks) will catch people flipping through the channels when he’s fighting. Yes, he has a grinding style, but his smack talk will get people to the fight. Floyd Mayweather has shown that even the most boring fighter to watch can be a draw if they talk enough trash.
Is he a good addition to the Bellator roster, skill-wise? Of course. I think a fight between he and Liam McGeary would be entertaining, and a good test for the hyped Brit. So good for Bellator for ponying up the dough, and good for Phil Davis for taking it.
Matt Parker: I wasn’t entirely shocked to see this development either. My cohorts all presented valid points on why this is a positive move for most of the stakeholders involved. All I would like to add to the discussion is this; public relations victory for the UFC.
As Nate mentioned, with anti-trust violations swirling -legalese for questionable business practices- in a secluded courthouse somewhere in Clark County, Nevada and their labour force of fighters beginning to question their “big” Reebok sponsorship deal, the UFC could use an opportunity to look like the good guy again. People seem to underestimate the magnitude of these anti-trust claims. They are claimed to have limited the access to economic opportunity for both fighters and organizations alike with rigid contracts and unfair buying power that restrained the entire industry around the sport from growing. These kind of claims, if corroborated, won’t only lose them a civil suit to a handful of “disgruntled” fighters. It will open up Zuffa’s finances to the world and more importantly government regulators. Federal Trade Commission officers in the U.S could impose financial penalties in the tens of millions and force Zuffa to change the way they structure their entire global platform. Not to mention the fact that the FTC has already heard some of these claims about Zuffa following their acquisition and closure of Strikeforce.
After the bungling of the “Rampage” Jackson contract affair and now with the signing of Phil Davis by Bellator; they are beginning to look like real competition in the market. On paper at least. Scott Coker looks like the mad scientist of mixed martial arts promotions… always cooking up a way to capture attention for his brand. Not to discount the tremendous athletic gifts that “Mr. Wonderful” Phill Davis brings to MMA, but he was never a crowd pleaser. While he has some impressive wins over top contenders; “Let me bang, bro”. His value as a symbolic trophy that fighters can get paid and be popular outside of the UFC brand is what’s important. Letting Phil Davis has his moment in the spotlight on his own was important in making Zuffa look like your average sporting franchise. You win some and you lose some. That fact was more important to the long-term health of the UFC brand than the career of one fighter was.
Follow the money and you will always find an answer. That’s what everybody involved with Phil Davis signing at Bellator was doing… Following the money.
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As you can see by the MMASucka.com staff roundtable above, the staff shared mixed opinions on Davis heading to Bellator MMA. Some believe it’s a big loss for the UFC and a huge gain for Bellator, adding to their shallow 205-pound division. Some think the UFC was smart for letting him go, and Bellator on the other hand was still smart for signing him, making it a win-win.
You know what we think of Davis signing to Bellator. Now, we want to know what the readers think. If you choose, leave a comment with your opinions below.
