UFC on Fox 2: Evans vs. Davis will be broadcast live from the United Center in Chicago, Illinois on January 28th 2012. At the top of the card is a matchup between two light heavyweights who are poised to make a run at current champion Jon Jones. And while a matchup featuring two wrestlers is often shunned by the MMA community as a whole, this fight still has value within the light heavyweight division.
Phil Davis and Rashad Evans can be considered two fighters who are cut from the same cloth. They both came into mixed martial arts as dominating wrestlers who used that to power their way to multiple victories. You can also say that Evans is where Davis wants to be in his career, as he has developed an impressive striking game to go with his takedown ability. That factor is going to be an important advantage for Evans in this fight.
Davis was the better collegiate wrestler of the two, and has used that foundation to garner a 9-0 record during his nearly four-year fighting career. During that time he has fought against individuals such as Alexander Gustafsson and Antonio Rogerio Nogueira, who were both able to outstrike him, yet unable to stop his takedowns. Nogueira in particular was very precise, using his striking to frustrate Davis into taking bad shots during the first round of their UFC Fight Night 24 matchup last March. However, he was not able to deal with the altered takedown strategy that Davis employed from the second round on. The argument can be made that Evans has such a similar foundation in fighting that he will be able to stuff Davis’s takedowns during the fight, but while he may be able to fight off a few, Evans has been taken down before by bigger, stronger wrestlers such as Tito Ortiz in both of their fights. However in the second Ortiz fight Evans was able to scramble his way back to his feet to bring striking into play, and finish the fight from there. Davis is the longer fighter, but has not developed enough as a striker to be able to effectively use that range against the much more experienced former champion.
Evans will be able to frustrate Davis in the striking department for the entirety of the fight, forcing Davis to take bad shots time and time again. He will also score a takedown or two, which will result in a top-down control stalemate with eventual stand-ups. The fight may not be pretty to watch, but I am taking Evans over Davis in a decision victory at UFC on Fox 2.
