EXCLUSIVE | Phil Davis: Johnson Needs To Practice Falling Down For This Fight, That’s It’

By Evan Stoumbelis

Phil Davis joined BJPENN.COM Radio recently to talk about his upcoming fight against Anthony “Rumble” Johnson this Saturday at UFC 172.

The show asked Phil how he felt about welcoming Anthony Johnson back to the UFC.

“I’m good with that you know.”

Davis continued with

“I mean to welcome him to the UFC with style with flare you know?”

“Mr. Wonderful” went on to talk about the challenges Johnson presented in their fight and how he prepared for them.

“I mean…you know…preparation always includes understanding your opponent and what they’re capable of and what they are able to do but I mean number 1 I’m always concerned about what I do and executing my moves, my style. Simply put the best guys don’t have to change who they are from fight to fight. They don’t have to prepare for every guy ugh I have to do this for this guy and that for that guy, no they are the same guy every single fight and people will adjust to them.”

When asked what he thought Anthony Johnson should be doing to prepare for their fight Phil responded with the following bit of interview gold:

“If I was Anthony Johnson right now I’d go to the gym right now and say how am I gonna do this? I should probably get some reps in and practice falling down. You know falling down isn’t as easy as it may look sometimes. Falling down is how a lot of people get hurt. You have to be a good athlete to fall down and not get hurt so the best thing to do at this point is go to open gym and practice falling down so he doesn’t get hurt along the way.”

Phil was quick to correct himself however saying he wasn’t insulting Johnson personally.

“That’s what I would of said for anybody I don’t mean that to be anything personal bout Anthony Johnson. you could insert witty comment right there. Insert his name, insert anybody’s name. Right next to witty comment there you go. That is the sentence I would say every time.”

“Fact remains. He’s really good he’s skillful, but you know he was the type of guy that beat the crap out of guys inside of the UFC. I expect when he gets outside the UFC the talent is not the same he beats the crap out of them. That’s what I expect and I expect it to look that way. So the fact that he did, ehh not that surprising to me.”

We here at BJPENN.com would like to thank Phil Davis for his time in doing this interview.