UFC 159's Phil Davis: "There's no reason to assume I would not tap out Vinny Magalhaes"

By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

Phil Davis and Vinny Magalhaes have been doing a good job of ignoring or downright denying the skills of one another into UFC 159, and Davis fired some more salvos in a recent interview with MMAFightCorner.com.

Davis, a former NCAA D-1 wrestler at Penn State, has shown an aptitude in the submission game as well, but he believes he's at an advantage even in the jiu jitsu game because of his wrestling. In fact, he thinks that wrestling trumps jiu jitsu in general, and doesn't see why anyone would count him out from a submission standpoint against Magalhaes.

"Wrestling's one of those things that it's just a more powerful art form," he said. "It's just better. I tell people if you're going to learn something, learn jiu-jitsu because it's fun. You'll have fun doing it. I like it. But if you want to learn how to fight, learn wrestling."

"There's no reason to assume I would not tap out Vinny. What, he doesn't have a throat? He doesn't have arms? Of course. I know how to do all of that. It's what I do. I enjoy the jiu-jitsu game. I think it's a lot fun. I think it's really, really useful. But I don't think it's the end all be all."

Regardless of what Magalehaes thinks of his skills, Davis believes he's got the edge everywhere. He especially feels confident in his striking game against Magalhaes, and would be more than happy to engage him on the feet.

"If you want to can stand up with me, stand up with me," Davis said. "Everyone except for Rashad, who stood up with me, check the Fightmetric, they didn't win. But I get that. If he really thinks he wants to stand up with me, that's cool. Be my guest."

Penick's Analysis: Davis has a good submission game, but whether he's got the submission skills necessary to submit someone like Magalhaes is debatable at best. And while wrestling is a great skill to have in high level MMA, I don't agree that it trumps the jiu jitsu game every time. That said, having a high level combination of the two makes a fighter very dangerous on the ground, and Davis is out to prove that's where he's at into Saturday's event.

[Phil Davis art by Grant Gould (c) MMATorch.com]

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Source: http://www.mmatorch.com/artman2/publish/UFC_2/article_16551.shtml

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