Phil Davis Blames Himself, Not Judges or Trainers, for Upset Loss to Vadim Nemkov

DAZN is the exclusive streaming partner of Bellator MMA. You can sign up here.

Bellator 209 was not a wonderful experience for Phil Davis. He was a sizable favorite against Vadim Nemkov, but after three closely contested rounds, he wound up on the wrong side of a split decision. When looking back on how the fight unfolded, Davis does not hold any will towards the judges who scored it. Instead, he places the blame squarely on himself for not making better use of his best skill: grappling.

“I had a feeling he was pretty good on the ground,” Davis told Sherdog. “You always have an idea, but you never know for sure. It doesn’t mean you don’t go to the ground with him, but I liked what I was getting from the standup.”

A four-time NCAA All-American wrestler and 2007 national champion at Penn State University, “Mr. Wonderful” likes to test the grappling capabilities of an opponent early in fights.

“Some guys will fight like they are drowning in water. It is life or death if they go down to the ground,” said Davis, who will attempt to rebound from the defeat to Nemkov when he faces Liam McGeary at Bellator 220 on Saturday in San Jose, California.

Nemkov showed no fear in the wrestling exchanges. In Davis’ mind, the sambo practitioner offered the relaxed resistance of a capable grappler. Because of that reality and his belief that he could have success striking, the Alliance MMA mainstay chose to pass on aggressively pursuing takedowns. It proved to be a strategic misstep. After two rounds, Nemkov was ahead in the fight, even in the eyes of Davis’ coaches.

“My coaches told me going into the third, ‘Alright, you [need] to finish him. That’s it,’” he said. The mission was clear: Get Nemkov down and stop the fight. He managed to achieve the first part of the plan but not the second. Worse still, Davis had a frustrating epiphany. “In the third round, I got him down to the ground, and I was like, ‘Oh my God, my kimura would have been there this whole time.’”

Despite the realization that he had wasted two rounds before flexing his superiority on the ground, Davis still had a legitimate chance to pull out the victory.

“I had a great opportunity in front of me to finish the kimura or straight armbar,” he said, “and I couldn’t seal the deal.”

The loss still stings as Davis approaches his rematch with McGeary -- a man he defeated to win the Bellator MMA light heavyweight championship in November 2016. The encounter with Nemkov will always be a case of what might have been for the Ultimate Fighting Championship veteran.

“When I have you in my move, my s---, and I don’t finish it, I can’t look back at anybody else and say, ‘You blew this fight,’” Davis said. “Sure, it was a close fight and it could have gone either way, but more than anything, I blame myself because I was in my move and I didn’t get it done. That in and of itself is just as bad as a loss, because I had my favorite move and I didn’t finish the fight.”