The hype surrounding light heavyweight champion Jon "Bones" Jones has been at its peak since Jones seemingly dismantled Mauricio "Shogun" Rua at UFC 128.
After his convincing victory, Jones was set to fight his former training partner and belt-holder Rashad Evans at UFC 133. Evans left his training camp in light of the situation and a "Twitter-war" ensued from each fighter's corner, claiming sides and loyalties to and from one another.
Unfortunately, UFC fans must wait for the clash of former partners and friends. During training, Jones suffered a torn thumb ligament that will require surgery.
Jones was forced out of the UFC 133 fight to recover, but the man taking his place is no slouch.
Phil Davis resembles Evans in many ways. Both fighters are very skilled wrestlers and have similar fighting backgrounds. Both fighters were on multiple All-American teams in college for wrestling. Rashad excelled at Michigan State and Davis competed at Penn State, two Big Ten rivals.
Davis currently sports a record of 9-0 with notable wins over Antonio Rogerio Nogueira and Tim Boetsch. Evans maintains a 15-1-1 overall record, with his most recent victory coming against TUF rival Quinton "Rampage" Jackson.
Although the fight doesn't have the storylines of a would-be Evans-Jones fight, Davis is a great main-event competitor ready to step onto the big stage.
Both fighters have taken their Big Ten wrestling roots and supplanted them into the world of MMA, creating an avenue for more and more fighters to travel down.
I have to think Evans will win this fight.The whole MMA world wants to see the matchup between former training partners, but it will have to wait.
If Davis upsets Evans, which is entirely possible, Davis will probably get the go ahead to fight Jones for the belt. That fight would be epic, considering Jones and Davis are still so young and have so much fight left in them.
Big things are happening in UFC's light heavyweight division, and I cannot wait to see how this all unfolds.
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