Phil Davis beats ‘King Mo’ at Bellator 154 to earn light heavyweight title shot

Phil Davis punched his ticket to a Bellator light heavyweight title fight with Liam McGeary in taking a unanimous decision win over King Mo Lawal in the main event of Bellator 154 on Saturday night at the SAP Center in San Jose.The fight was promoted as the fight that should have happened on the Sept. 19 show in San Jose, when Davis and Lawal were in a four-man, one-night tournament for a title shot in the same building. Both won in their first match, but Lawal suffered injured ribs and couldn’t come out for the final. But Lawal came back to win an eight-man heavyweight tournament in Japan at the end of December.Davis had largely clinched the decision going into the third round, provided Mo didn’t finish him, as he was up 20-18 on two judges scorecards, which likely surprised the crowd, not to mention Lawal, who felt he won the fight.Even Davis (16-3, 1 NC) wasn’t expecting those scores after two rounds, as he said he came into the third round thinking that one would decide it.”If anything, I thought it was split (going into the third round),” said Davis. “I feel like that third round, like the fifth round in fights, that’s where it’s all at.”The two men, who had trained together at times when both were amateur wrestlers, and again for a short period of time as MMA fighters when both were based in San Jose, largely neutralized each other’s wrestling.  Davis’ game is usually based on takedowns and submissions, but he was unable to get Lawal to the ground until the third round, after catching him with what was the best punch of the fight.Lawal (19-5,1 NC) landed more punches early in the fight, while Davis countered with body kicks that Lawal claimed never hurt him significantly.  Lawal scored his only takedown early in the second round when catching a Davis kick and using it to get him down. But Davis was up quickly. The crowd was restless for much of the first …

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