Phil Davis: I Don’t Know What’s Left Of Jon Jones, He Might Pull Out Of UFC 172
UFC light-heavyweight contender Phil ‘Mr. Wonderful’ Davis has been throwing a lot of trash talk in Jon Jones’ direction lately. Davis recently likened the 205-pound boss to a ‘short bread cookie’ and seems intent on trashing ‘Bones’ to the media as much as possible.
Davis has also stated that he feels Jones will back out of his UFC 172 fight against Glover Teixeira, claiming that he would be happy to step in against GT should that happen. Check out what ‘Mr. Wonderful’ had to say while talking to MMAJunkie.com recently:
“I do not know whether (Jones) will make it to that fight, I don’t know, I’m not a psychic. I’m just saying I don’t know if he will make it. I don’t know if he left is soul in the octagon (after the fight with Gustafsson) but I know he left a lot of blood. There were little pieces of Jon Jones all over that mat.”
Phil Davis’ subject matter for this recent tirade against Jones stems from UFC 151, or the lack thereof. ‘Bones’ declined Chael Sonnen as a replacement for the injured Dan Henderson and the event was cancelled all together.
“I don’t know what’s left of Jones, but we’ll find out. Whatever’s left I’ll be happy to take on I’m ready for a title shot whenever it’s available,” Davis said. “If he happens to back out of this fight for whatever reason, I’m willing to take on Glover Teixeira for an interim championship.”
Jones’ performance against Teixeira will indeed be telling of what he has left in the tank, but are Davis’ comments about him withdrawing from the fight unfounded? Admittedly the fact that the fight with GT was moved around so much does arouse suspicion of ducking, but it pays to remember that Jones chose the Teixeira fight over a rematch with Alexander Gustafsson.
Another, and more likely theory is that Davis is running his mouth to get noticed. Drama sells tickets, rivalries sell tickets, and quite often they seemingly outweigh a fighters actual achievements in the promotion. That being said, a loss against Anthony Johnson at UFC 172 could be crippling for Davis’ title aspirations, so I hope he isn’t overlooking ‘Rumble’.
