Phil Davis defeated Lyoto Machida for the second time in his career in the main event of Bellator 245. In all honesty, it may have been an even closer fight than their first meeting.
The end result of Friday’s bout at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, CT was a split decision win for “Mr. Wonderful.” Back in 2013, it was a unanimous decision victory. But still close.
Regardless of the finer details, a win is a win. Davis (22-5, 1NC) now has three of those in a row. Which could be enough to earn him a shot against light heavyweight champ Vadim Nemkov.
“I feel like, [Nemkov] can fight whoever he wants to fight, but I know deep down inside, the champion wants to fight the guy who was right on his ass,” Davis said during Friday’s Bellator 245 post-fight press conference. “I want that fight, and I know he wants that fight.”
After all, the pair met before, just over a year ago in another close fight. But if it’s not a title shot — and in these crazy pandemic era times, nothing is set in stone — is there anything else that makes sense?
Davis dismissed the idea of a third fight with Ryan Bader. “Absolutely not. You gotta know when to let sleeping dogs lie. Or like my grandma would say, ‘that dog don’t hunt!’ Listen, it’s good. He got me. Moving on.” There is, however, a fight that might work for Davis.
“Corey Anderson,” suggested Davis. “He’s definitely a veteran, he deserves a veteran’s welcome to the Bellator family. But that would be something to talk about, maybe, and only maybe, if Mr. Nemkov isn’t available.”
In the meantime, Davis is very proud of having taken a second win against Machida.
“Machida is such an amazingly elusive guy. It’s so hard to get a hand on him,” he observed. “I remember watching him fight Shogun Rua. Well twice, actually. And Shogun just could not get the movement, he couldn’t get him down. And Machida got the first win over him. He’s just one of those guys, he’s very frustrating.”
