UFC 133 Fight Card: Is Phil Davis Ready for Rashad Evans?

Phil “Mr. Wonderful” Davis has lived up to his nickname so far in his MMA career.

Davis is 9-0, (5-0 in the UFC), and holds wins over middleweight stand out Brian Stann and Antonio Rogerio Nogueira.

Because of his mixture of good wrestling and slick submissions, Davis has become one of the UFC’s fastest rising stars.

Often young fighters will call out tougher competition with the hope of moving up the divisional rankings.

Davis on the other hand has had opportunities come to him.

After originally being booked to Matt Hamill, then Jason Brillz, Davis replaced Tito Ortiz to face Nogueira at UFC Fight Night 24.

Davis got past his biggest test to date, but showed us that he still has some improvements to make.

He will get an even bigger test in competition as he takes on Rashad Evans at UFC 133.

Evans is a former UFC light heavyweight champion who was well on his way to another title fight. Unfortunately for him, his former teammate and UFC champion Jon Jones had to pull out of their fight due to a hand injury.

Instead of waiting for his title shot like he had done for almost a year, Evans decided to take the fight against Davis.

Like Evans, Davis is a good wrestler. But wrestling aside, will Davis have enough tools to be competitive with Evans?

Evans will have much better striking coming into this fight. He will also have experience and knows how to handle pressure in a big fight.

Not only will Davis feel the pressure of being in such a big fight, he will also feel the pressure to perform well in his home state.

Davis is one of the division’s bright young stars. But I believe this will be the fight that he loses and learns from.