Former UFC light-heavyweight champion Rashad Evans says that he is “the shark” and his upcoming opponent Phil Davis “is in deep water.”
Evans and Davis headline Saturday’s UFC on FOX 2 event at the United Center in Chicago and the two have been talking back and forth since last week’s media conference call.
Considering Chael Sonnen and Michael Bisping — two of the more vocal fighters in the UFC — are fighting one another in the co-main event, it surprised many when Evans and Davis took the spotlight and began engaging in some verbal warfare.
Watch the event live Saturday starting with the preliminary card on Sportsnet ONE at 5 p.m. ET / 2 p.m. PT, followed by the main card on Sportsnet East, Ontario, West and Pacific at 8 p.m. ET.
It’s no surprise Evans talked some smack, since he has in the past, but Davis is typically soft spoken and respectful of his opponents.
Evans believes Davis is in over his head and will be outmatched.
“Davis is intimidated,” Evans said during the fighter workouts Wednesday. “I’ve seen him around and he’s not looking too confident. He’s not ready for this level, and he knows it.
“He’s not coming to take it to me, but I am gonna take it to him. After I had my year off (due to injury) I came back with the attitude of never, ever leaving it up to the judges and just throwing hands all the time. That’s the way my career is going to go, and that’s how I am going to.”
An ongoing quarrel between the two former collegiate wrestlers is their respective ability on the mat. There were several moments during the pre-fight press conference Thursday when the two light-heavyweights began bickering about their wrestling abilities. Evans said he believes Davis’ technique is “trash” and that he could beat him in a straight wrestling match, something he has been saying all week.
“He’s delusional. If he thinks he’s going to outwrestle or intimidate me, he’s in for a shock on Saturday night,” Davis said. “He’s not as good as he thinks he is, and I am better than he thinks I am. He thinks he’s a better wrestler than me, (that’s) crazy. I would beat him 100 times out of 100. He was something like .500 in won/losses in wrestling. I was a champion; he just competed.”
Although wrestling could be a key factor in the outcome of the fight, Evans believes the main difference will be the killer instinct he said Davis lacks.
“Phil is just a nice guy. He’s not a fighter. He’s an athlete, a great athlete, but not a fighter,” Evans said.
“He has no killer instinct for this and he’s got no experience at this level. He’s never fought at heavyweight like I had to (during the Ultimate Fighter 2) to get into the UFC. He didn’t get punched by Chuck Liddell and Rampage Jackson like I did. He’s not had to dig deep at all.”
Despite Davis’ relative inexperience in mixed martial arts, his confidence is not waning ahead of this bout.
“Yes, I have only nine pro MMA fights but the inexperience thing isn’t an issue,” Davis said. “I am less experienced than every single guy I’ve faced, and I am unbeaten. I am experienced at winning, and that’s what really matters, and I’m going to experience winning again on FOX.”
The two admit they likely wouldn’t be beefing if they weren’t about to fight one another, but it hasn’t stopped them from doing so.
“I just don’t really like Phil Davis right now,” Evans said. “Phil Davis made a couple comments that kind of bothered me a little bit, and I really didn’t like that, so I’m going to say as much as I can to hurt his feelings.”
If Evans wins on Saturday, UFC president Dana White has guaranteed the 32-year-old will get the next shot at current champion Jon Jones. If Davis wins, he could get the next shot, but White hasn’t made him the same promise since Dan Henderson is “in the mix” as well.
“I’m planning on him not being able to stop a lot of the things I do well,” Davis said. “Rashad Evans deserves a title shot. He worked hard and he absolutely deserves a title shot. Unfortunately he’s not going to get it this soon.”
“I will fight for the title, unless I break my hand hitting (Evans) too hard,” Davis declared at the press conference.
Evans (16-1-1) is riding a three-fight win streak, coming off a TKO win over Tito Ortiz at UFC 133 and decision wins over Quinton (Rampage) Jackson and Thiago Silva. His only career loss was to Lyoto Machida at UFC 98 in his first title defense.
Davis (9-0) is coming off a unanimous decision win over Antonio Rogerio Nogueira in March, but has been sidelined with a knee injury since. The 27-year-old holds notable wins over Alexander Gustafsson, Brain Stann and Tim Boetsch.
Davis and Evans were scheduled to meet at UFC 133 in Philadelphia but Davis was forced to withdraw due to injury.
“Now I get to fight him on FOX and embarrass him in front of everybody,” Davis added.
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