Dana White says Phil Davis lacks title spirit; Davis: 'Ha ha. Isn't that funny?'

ORLANDO – UFC President Dana White questions whether Phil Davis really wants to be the light heavyweight champion of the world, but Davis plans to show him.

Following a pre-event press conference for Saturday’s UFC on FOX 11, White said Davis seemed content as a highly ranked fighter, but didn’t strike him as the kind of guy who would do anything to win the belt now held by Jon Jones.

Davis (12-1 MMA, 8-1 UFC) next week faces Anthony Johnson (16-4 MMA, 7-4 UFC) in the co-main event of UFC 172, which is headlined by a title bout between light-heavy champ Jones (19-1 MMA, 13-1 UFC) and No. 1 contender Glover Teixeira (22-2 MMA, 5-0 UFC). Davis increasingly has targeted Jones in interviews, even predicting he’ll get an interim title shot when Jones withdraws from the pay-per-view due to injury.

But apparently, Davis’ words have been lost on White, who isn’t convinced the former NCAA wrestling champ is gunning for a title shot.

“I like Phil, and I don’t want to throw Phil under the bus, but Phil needs to get over that mental hump, and he needs to get on the Internet and f–king check the rankings and see where he’s ranked,” White said. “He’s one of the best light heavyweights in the world, but he doesn’t come off to me like I’ve got guys (who are) breathing down my f–king neck for fights: ‘I want this fight. I want this, I want that.’

“Phil Davis is like, ‘Eh, I’ll hang out around No. 4 here.’ He’s not that guy that comes across to me like, ‘I f–king want it. I want to be the champ. I want to be the best in the world.’ He’s just sort of, ‘Eh.’”

For the record, Davis is ranked No. 4 in the UFC’s official rankings. But he resides at No. 2 in the USA TODAY Sports/MMAjunkie MMA light heavyweight rankings, which is two spots above Teixeira’s spot at No. 4.

Alexander Gustafsson, who is ranked No. 3, is expected to get the winner of Jones vs. Teixeira. But the winner of Johnson vs. Davis could conceivably be next in line.

As it happened, MMAjunkie had an interview scheduled with Davis only a few hours after the news conference, so the light heavyweight was asked for his thoughts on the situation as well as his reaction to the UFC president’s opinion. Davis’ usual wit gave way to a fire that left little doubt about where he stood.

“I find it to be very interesting,” he said. “I’m not sure how he came upon this faulty information, but I will do everything in my power to make sure that the right message gets across, that not only am I ready to be the champion, I am ready to break apart anybody who stands between me and UFC gold. I thought I said that already – that’s crazy, ha-ha. I’m going to say it again right now: Anybody who stands between me and UFC gold will get broke apart. I thought I said that already, but apparently, that didn’t get to the right people.

“Let me tell you one thing about Dana. He’s an extremely busy man. He runs one of the biggest and best fight promotions in the entire world. The fact that he doesn’t know what’s going on in my little interviews doesn’t surprise me. So, I’ll tell you what’s going to happen. I’m going to talk to Dana and let him know, ‘Hey Dana, I’m going to break apart anybody you put in front of me until I am the UFC champion.’ Simple as that. We just had a misunderstanding. That’s all. People talk. You ever play telephone when you were a kid? Of course. You start out saying one thing, and next thing you know, the message is all screwed up and everybody’s laughing. Ha-ha. Isn’t that funny? Phil Davis don’t want to be a champion. Ha-ha. That’s funny. OK.”

Johnson then laid out his plans for changing White’s mind.

“First thing I’m going to do is beat the crap out of Anthony Johnson,” he said. “Second thing I’m going to do, I’m going to say, ‘Dana, put somebody else in front of me – I’m going to beat them up.’ Put me in front of Jon ‘Bones’ Jones, and I will break him in two.”

Jones recently said Davis is picking a fight to up his relevancy in the light heavyweight division, as are a host of others calling to fight him. White, however, might not be hearing the same things.

Davis, after all, doesn’t cut your average fight promo. His interviews come across as good-natured musings on the fight game and frequently employ irony and self-effacing sarcasm. He might take a jab at an opponent, but not with the severity of others in his class.

But that might be changing.

“I think [White is] kind of used to people talking crazy,” Davis said. “Everything they say is about bravado and being tough. I’m a pretty honest dude – I’ll tell you my honest thoughts, and I’m going to say I want to fight for the title, and I want to be the best.

“We can fight right now. If Jones pulls out of this fight, which he very well may, I will be fighting for the title. Let’s say he doesn’t. Let’s say he beats Glover Teixeira. I will make this easy.

“Apparently, I need to say these things directly to [White]. I have no problem doing that. That can be arranged. Not a problem. We just had a miscommunication when you really get down to the bottom of these things, it’s kind of funny. We can all sit around and laugh and then we can get back to reality. I will beat the crap out of anybody that gets in the octagon. That’s the truth of the matter.”

Davis then fell silent. Was he frustrated? Was it disappointing to have your motivation questioned?

“It certainly doesn’t make your day,” he offered, “but we’ll make sure the right message gets across when I beat the crap out of Anthony Johnson, and then when I’m in the center of the cage talking to Joe Rogan, I’ll make sure the rest of the world knows that if anybody else gets in the cage with me, I’ll beat the crap out of them, too.”

For the latest on UFC 172, stay tuned to the UFC Rumors section of the site.

John Morgan contributed to this report from Orlando.