Phil Davis Signs For Bellator MMA

After five years fighting inside the UFC’s Octagon, today it was announced that Phil Davis has left the promotion to sign with Bellator MMA in an exclusive, multi-fight deal . “Mr. Wonderful” was a stand-out collegiate wrestler in his time with Penn State and entered the UFC with much hype but it didn’t all go to plan.

Davis started his career in impressive fashion as he won nine on the spin and took out names like Brian Stann, Antônio Rogério Nogueira and Alexander Gustafsson before his career went into somewhat of a lull. After almost a year out of the cage through injury, Davis returned against Rashad Evans and lost before a no-contest against Wagner Prado pre-dated three good, but rather uninspiring, wins. Then, in the last three fights of his contract, Davis lost twice including last time out to Ryan Bader and leaves the UFC as the number 7 ranked light heavyweight.

“I can’t wait to be fighting in Bellator and wreck shop on everyone,” said Davis in an official Bellator press release. “I am the absolute best and most dominant grappler to ever fight in MMA and I’m excited to get in there and compete at my new home.”

Bellator President is also rather happy with the acquisition for a division already containing names like Liam McGeary, Tito Ortiz, “King Mo” Lawal, Quinton “Rampage” Jackson (maybe), Emanuel Newton and Linton Vassell.

“Phil is a world class Mixed Martial Artist and we are very happy to be adding him to OUR roster of some of the best Light Heavyweights in the world,” said the promotion’s president, Scott Coker.  “Bellator remains fully committed to building its world-class roster by signing top free agents like Davis, as well as grooming up-and-coming stars. We’ve got some amazing matchups in mind for ‘Mr. Wonderful’ that we will be announcing in the weeks to come.”