Phil Davis makes quick return, meets Alexander Gustafsson on UFC 112 prelims
Despite some concerns about his availability due to a possible shoulder injury, Phil Davis (5-0 MMA, 1-0 UFC) apparently received encouraging MRI results and has agreed to fight fellow light heavyweight Alexander Gustafsson (9-0 MMA, 1-0 UFC) in April at UFC 112.
Sources close to the event confirmed with MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) that the bout is in the process of being finalized for the night's preliminary card.
Gustafsson mentioned the fight in an official blog posting earlier today.
The bout was first reported as a possibility by MMAFrenzy.com over the weekend.
UFC 112 takes place April 10 at Concert Arena (at the Ferrari World theme park on Yas Island) in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. The main card, including a headliner between UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva and Demian Maia, airs on pay-per-view.
Davis, a former NCAA Division I national wrestling champion at Penn State, made his UFC debut earlier this month at UFC 109 and easily defeated former WEC champ Brian Stann via unanimous decision. Davis dominated the fight so thoroughly that he earned winning scores of 30-26 on two judges' cards.
Despite his obvious satisfaction in picking up a win on MMA's biggest stage, Davis found some faults with his performance.
"I'm hard on myself," Davis recently told MMAjunkie.com Radio. "Overall, I thought I did OK, but fighting like that is not going to win me a title fight. Obviously, that's what I'm training for.
"I thought I did OK, but so many times I could have done more. You guys notice when I'm hesitant on the feet, but to me, it's so apparent when I'm hesitant on the ground. There was a lot of time when I could have gone for submissions."
Davis meets a fellow undefeated fighter when he takes on Gustafsson, a Swedish competitor who recently signed a four-fight deal with the UFC and made his promotional debut against Jared Hamman at UFC 105 in November. Gustafsson posted a 41-second knockout; in fact, among his nine career wins, seven have now come via KO or TKO (six in the first round).
At 6-foot-5, Gustafsson is one of the UFC's tallest 205-pound fighters, but he won't have a significant height or reach advantage over the 6-foot-2 Davis.
The latest UFC 112 card now includes:
MAIN CARD
* Champ Anderson Silva vs. Demian Maia (for middleweight title)
* Champ B.J. Penn vs. Frankie Edgar (for lightweight title)
* Matt Hughes vs. Renzo Gracie
* Kendall Grove vs. Mark Munoz*
* Nick Osipczak vs. Rick Story*
PRELIMINARY CARD
* Rafael dos Anjos vs. Terry Etim*
* John Gunderson vs. Paul Taylor
* Mostapha Al Turk vs. Jon Madsen*
* Brad Blackburn vs. DaMarques Johnson*
* Phil Davis vs. Alexander Gustafsson*
* Paul Kelly vs. Matt Veach*
* - Not officially announced
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