Phil Davis spent 5 years of his profession competing within the UFC, the place he was routinely ranked among the many finest mild heavyweights within the sport, and now he’s searching for elementary adjustments to the best way that promotion does enterprise so he can proceed to show he’s one of the crucial elite fighters within the sport.
In late Might, a brand new antitrust lawsuit was filed towards the UFC with Davis’ identify main the cost however not like a pair of very high-profile circumstances — one which already ended with a $375 million settlement and a second nonetheless winding its approach via the courts — this new authorized motion isn’t searching for any financial damages. As an alternative, Davis’ lawsuit is particularly searching for motion towards the UFC’s enterprise practices, particularly altering contracts and the “elimination of restrictive and/or exclusionary clauses” in addition to searching for a “sundown provision” that enables fighters the choice to “terminate the contract with no penalty inside one 12 months after its execution.”
Davis says all of it boils right down to fighters being allowed to pursue the most important alternatives out there within the sport — an choice unavailable to him since leaving the UFC.
“The reality of the matter is, I don’t do that for enjoyable,” Davis instructed MMA Combating. “My potential to struggle towards the perfect individuals on the earth has been inhibited. I can’t do this outdoors of the UFC. That’s an actual miscarriage of justice. At one level, I used to be the Bellator champion and shortly thereafter Glover Teixeira turned the champion of the UFC. I had a really dominant victory over Glover Teixeira, nonetheless, I wasn’t in a position to capitalize on the chance [to fight him]. You’re the perfect on the earth. I’d by no means take that away from him. He earned it. I consider I’ve the power to beat him once more. That’s merely not proper.
“Everybody who’s concerned in high-level sports activities, skilled sports activities, you’re in it to be the perfect. You might be in it to compete towards the perfect to show you’re the finest on the earth and that’s all I’m combating for. To be the perfect on the earth.”
Whereas there’s a monetary element connected to all prize fighters competing in fight sports activities, Davis guarantees that his focus for this specific lawsuit all comes right down to making an attempt to pressure the UFC to alter the best way it does enterprise.
His best hope is eliminating restrictive contract phrases like people who successfully killed any probability he had at pursuing a possible rematch towards a UFC champion like Teixeira just because Davis was working with a rival promotion.
“I’m not searching for any harm and I’m not searching for monetary compensation of any sort,” Davis mentioned. “I haven’t been promised something. All I need is the power to struggle the perfect, and I need that not only for myself however for each different one that is competing.
“You will have the chance to struggle the perfect on the earth. Should you’re at that degree, I need you to struggle the perfect on the earth. Why would I not need that for you? I need that for me. I need that for anyone who’s on this sport, the power to be the perfect and struggle the perfect and placed on the most important fights for the followers, everybody wins. There’s one one that would lose. This isn’t a private vendetta of any sort. That is simply what must occur.”
Davis, who was an NCAA champion whereas wrestling for Penn State, says the concept he wouldn’t have been allowed to compete towards different collegiate athletes just because they weren’t in the identical convention sounds ludicrous.
If he’s profitable in his lawsuit, Davis believes the outcomes profit each fighter competing in MMA as we speak.
“No different sports activities league works in that style,” Davis mentioned. “Even out of convention in school sports activities, we had a twin meet versus Oklahoma State. They’re in a very completely different convention. We wouldn’t even see them outdoors of huge nationwide duals or we’ll go towards Oklahoma State, however we put them on the schedule. We have been No. 2 within the nation they usually have been No. 1 at the moment. We had a twin meet, it seems Penn State received.
“We got here out on high and that’s simply how sports activities works. We wish to safe the highest spot, they’d it, we put them on the schedule, we got here out on high. Everybody wins.”
As MMA continues to develop as a well-liked sport globally, Davis appears like these adjustments aren’t solely needed for the fighters, nevertheless it’s only a higher state of affairs for general fight sports activities market.
“MMA has grown a lot and it’s taken form and it’s positively evolving,” Davis mentioned. “Now the practices are outdated, they’re restrictive and albeit, all people ought to have the best to struggle the perfect on the earth. As soon as you might be ranked on the earth, you may have the chance to struggle the perfect on the earth.”
