UFC light heavyweight Phil Davis is clearly tired of getting pushed onto the back burner in favor of other, arguably less qualified fighters for a title shot at Jon "Bones" Jones. Davis has been vocally attacking Jones as soft, seemingly goading him into pushing for a title fight to shut him up.
Davis sarcastically talked about how much he "likes" Jones to The MMA Hour. "I don't so much dislike Jon Jones -- and you know what, I have to throw it back to you and your colleagues, because I've been misquoted a couple of times," Davis said.
Phil Davis accuses "Bones" of ducking Gustafsson?
"But I will tell you this, I don't dislike Jon Jones. I quite like him. I think of Jon Jones as a shortbread cookie. He's soft, he's sweet, but when I get my hands on him he's going to crumble in the palm of my hand, that's what I think about Jon Jones. But that's just me, and that to me doesn't mean I dislike him."
Recently, Davis has lamented opportunities given to fighters like Glover Teixeira, who is facing Jones at UFC 172 despite having fewer quality victories on his resume, and Daniel Cormier, who could get the next title fight despite having only fought once at light heavyweight.
Daniel Cormier begging for title shot?
These days, he's veiling his criticisms in overly peachy assessments of UFC's matchmaking. "Joe Silva and Dana White, they're running the biggest, best fight promotion in the world. I never wanted to run a fight promotion. Who am I to criticize them for running the biggest and best fight promotion in the world. I've got to respect whatever decision they make," Davis said.
He may have a point, however. Since falling for the first and only time of his career to Rashad Evans in 2012 he hasn't lost. Davis has racked up three impressive wins in a row, including one over Lyoto Machida in August 2013.
He also seems resigned to the fact that he may have wait a while for his shot, and that Cormier could leapfrog him.
"It's not a matter of would I be upset if he got a title shot before me, that doesn't really bother me," Davis said. "[Daniel]'s not making the decision to fight before me, and I'm not making the decision to fight before him. He's not the boss of me, and neither am I. Why would I be upset about that? It's just the way our company's run.
© 2023 Sportsworldnews.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
