A highly decorated amateur wrestler upon entering the sport, Phil Davis is a very talented light heavyweight prospect with well rounded potential as a mixed martial artist. While wrestling at Penn State University, Davis achieved NCAA Division I All-American status four times and topped off his collegiate wrestling career by going 26-1 his senior year and winning the 2008 NCAA Division I National Championship at 197 pounds. Given his wrestling credentials Davis obviously comes from a very strong base, and his style of wrestling is one that has traditionally crossed over very well to MMA. He is a supremely gifted natural athlete with an excellent shot, who drives through opponents with explosive takedowns and big slams. Davis' combination of wrestling and athletic abilities has worked out very well for fighters in the past, and although he is very unproven and far from a sure thing he enters the sport with a significant advantage over most with his level of experience. Not surprisingly Davis displays excellent control from top position on the ground and also possesses developing ground and pound skills with good punches and hammer fists from the top. Davis is aggressive on the ground and not content with just holding his opponents down; he does look to improve positions and has an active wrestling game. His overall MMA ground game is still coming together and he will need to continue refining his submissions skills and technical grappling abilities, but Davis does hold exciting potential in his grappling game.

Davis moves well on his feet, does not shy away from striking and makes use of both punches and kicks standing. He has naturally heavy hands (see bout with Kevin Wall) and powerful leg kicks, but overall his standup game is still quite green. At times Davis does look stiff on his feet and his head movement, defensive abilities and technical striking skills are clearly unrefined. Training at the American Kickboxing Academy, Davis will definitely be in fine hands as he works on his striking - and as a hungry, committed fighter with tremendously gifted raw athletic abilities, is in excellent potential to round out his game with a good standup game to compliment his abilities on the ground.