Phil Davis Looking For a Wonderful Fight | SPIKE

Debuting only a year ago, the young phenom faces a grizzled veteran. Can Phil Davis take the next step?

Making his UFC debut against Brian Stann after going 4-0 on the independent circuit, Phil Davis never had to go through the grind of fighting four times or more in six weeks to earn his spot in the world’s top mixed martial arts promotion. However, the former All-American wrestler at Penn State has gone through his own intense grind that has led him up to his main event meeting with Antonio Rogerio Nogueira this Saturday at UFC Fight Night: Nogueira vs. Davis, on Spike at 10P/9c from Key Arena in Seattle.

When Davis steps into the Octagon on Saturday night, it’ll be his fifth fight in less than 14 months. With wins over Alexander Gustafsson, Rodney Wallace and Tim Boetsch, Davis has been running through opponents at a remarkable pace, and has landed himself in a main event just over a year after his UFC debut, getting the spot opposite Nogueira after Tito Ortiz was forced to pull out of the fight with an injury.

"It’s not really how I would like to have started off in my UFC career," Davis said on Monday, "but, you know, I’m here and healthy, so I really can’t complain much."

In truth, the opportunities are coming at “Mr. Wonderful” as fast as he can handle them, possibly even faster. Still, while Davis is planning on taking time off to catch his breath after the fight with Nogueira, the pressure of fighting a decorated veteran with a 19-4 career record has forced him to take a close look at himself as he prepares for the biggest challenge of his young career.

"Definitely, I’m going to take some time off after this fight to improve my game,” Davis said. “For this fight, I came definitely little bit sooner than I wanted to step back in a cage.  But, you know, this fight also is giving me an opportunity just to step back and look over, you know, the last four or five fight and see what I need to improve on and see where I'm making mistakes.”

With an undefeated record, Davis wouldn’t seem to have too many holes in his game, but he knows that if there are any holes, “Little Nog” will find and exploit them.

“He's one of the guys that has been around forever,” Davis said. “He presents a challenge in every area: stand up, on the ground, against the fence.  Everywhere something could go wrong, something probably would go wrong with a guy that’s been around this long.”

Nogueira, for his part, has spent time training with Davis in the past, and said through an interpreter on Monday that he thought Davis to be a “very tough guy.  He’s very strong in wrestling, very strong ground skills.” Nogueira, with his distinguished record as a champion boxer in South America, would seem to have the upper hand in the stand-up game, but Davis maintains that his skills on the feet are “coming along right on schedule.”

Indeed, Nogueira respects Davis’ all-around game to the point where he said, “this fight is just as tough as it would have been with Tito.”

Ortiz has had his struggles of late in the Octagon – his last win was against Ken Shamrock in 2006 – but he is a former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion, a distinction that Davis hopes to achieve for himself one day. Asked about speculation that he could fight newly-crowned champion Jon Jones at some point in the future, Davis said, "I think it's an honor that they think that I'll fight for the belt one day.  And the Lord willing, one day I will."

In the meantime, there’s Nogueira, Davis’ biggest challenge yet.

“It’s an excellent opportunity to be able to fight a legend in this sport,” Davis said, “and I’m just glad to be in the same octagon with him.”

Photo: Josh Hedges / UFC / Getty Images