UFC 179: Glover Teixeira vs. Phil Davis Full Head-to-Toe Breakdown

This Saturday, UFC 179 goes down in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, as Jose Aldo puts his featherweight title on the line when he takes on Chad Mendes in a rematch of their battle from UFC 142.

In the co-main event, one-time light heavyweight title challenger Glover Teixeira faces off against No. 6-ranked contender Phil Davis.

Teixeira comes into the fight following a losing title effort against Jon Jones at UFC 172. He was thoroughly dominated and lost the fight 50-45 on all scorecards.

Davis also fought and lost by unanimous decision at UFC 172. He was beaten badly by Anthony Johnson for 15 minutes en route to a 30-27 loss on all scorecards.

These two will be looking to get back on track in a big way, so let's take a look at who has the edge in a full head-to-toe breakdown of this light heavyweight bout. 

Striking

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This one isn't much of a surprise.

Teixeira has 22 wins in his career. In total, 13 have come by way of (T)KO, while another came by submission to punches.

In addition, he has scored two of those TKO wins in his last five fights, and he earned a Knockout of the Night award for his first-round win over Ryan Bader in September 2013.

Phil Davis has only two wins by (T)KO in his career, with the most recent one coming in 2009 in a regional promotion.

Edge: Teixeira 

Grappling

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This one could go either way.

Teixeira has shown some serious proficiency with his grappling. He has scored at least one takedown in nearly all of his UFC fights. He was also able to stuff three of six attempts from Jon Jones.

However, Phil Davis is known as much more of a grappler than Teixeira. Davis has scored takedowns against Lyoto Machida, Rashad Evans, Rogerio Nogueira, Tim Boetsch and many more.

In addition, he was a four-time Division I All-American wrestler at Penn State, where he won the NCAA title in 2008 as a senior.

A knock on Davis' wrestling as of late is the fact that he went 0-8 on takedown attempts against Anthony Johnson, but he should still have a slight edge against Teixeira come fight night.

Edge: Davis 

Submissions

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This is another one that's pretty clear to call.

Teixeira has far more wins with strikes than by submission—14 with strikes and five by submission—but his submissions are very dangerous.

In his five UFC wins, he has scored two by submission. One came over Kyle Kingsbury—his only submission loss—and the second was a Submission of the Night over James Te Huna in the first round.

Phil Davis has four wins by submission on his resume. He submitted Alexander Gustafsson and Tim Boetsch in 2010, and Wagner Prado in 2012.

The submission over Boetsch was especially impressive, as it was a kimura with only one arm, later dubbed the "Mr. Wonderful." Davis would win Submission of the Night for that one.

Both are skilled with their submissions, but Teixiera's recent success outweighs Davis' past success.

Edge: Teixeira 

Intangibles

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Glover Teixeira

Teixeira saw the blueprint to defeating Davis in Davis' last fight against Anthony Johnson.

He needs to land power shots, stuff takedown attempts and keep Davis on his heels. He will need to be careful not to rush in and overpursue, which is something he tends to do when he has his opponent hurt.

It's been six months since Teixeira's last fight, in what was a losing title effort to Jon Jones. It was six months between his fights before that as well, which means he hasn't spent a huge amount of time in the cage recently.

Hopefully that doesn't affect him too much.

Phil Davis

Davis has to know that Anthony Johnson made him look bad. Therefore, he will need to come out with a completely different look, and he needs to be ready for the big power that Teixeira throws.

He's going to want to get the fight to the ground, and dominate and control Teixeira if he wants to get the win.

Davis has also been out for six months, and actually fought—and lost—on the same card as Teixeira.

Six months is a long time, and it could be a big factor for either fighter. 

Prediction

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Glover Teixeira has the blueprint for how to beat Phil Davis. He has to keep him on his heels, land power shots and never let him get any momentum.

Davis has faltered against most of the top competition he's faced, except for a controversial fight with Lyoto Machida. We can't be certain that Teixeira is a top-tier fighter, but he would definitely look to be a step above Davis.

He can land his power shots, stuff Davis' takedowns and win this fight by unanimous decision.

Prediction: Glover Teixeira def. Phil Davis by unanimous decision (30-27).