Phil Davis
Phil Davis of LionHeart Fighters was scheduled to fight in Indiana recently, but his opponent withdrew, citing other commitments.
To LionHeart owner Chad Dubin, it's all part of the game of MMA, both inside the cage, and out.
Not only does Dubin, a Penn State wrestling alumus, provide a solid training environment for all his fighters in State College, Pa.,, he carefully crafts their careers.
"Ideally, we're just going to take our time," Dubin said of Davis. "It's a building block."
He'd like to see Davis, who is 3-0 as an amateur, get as much experience in the cage as possible, while grooming him for his pro debut.
That debut could happen later this month, or possibly next month, Dubin said.
It takes less time to prepare for a fight against an inexperienced pro, someone who is 0-1, 1-0, or 1-1. For an experienced pro, someone who is, say, 6-0, a good 5 or 6 weeks are needed, Dubin said.
That's in an ideal situation, Dubin said.
"Sometimes, you don't know when you're going to get the call and we have to be prepared," he said.
Davis has been on a huge learning curve since joining LionHeart Fighters several months ago. His wrestling pedigree is top-notch - he was an All-American at Penn State - but that's only one facet of the MMA game, Dubin said.
Getting Davis in the LionHeart academy, it was as if the trainers challenged him with, "Phil, let's learn three sports from scratch, and we're going to smush 'em all together."
Dubin said that in wrestling, everyone learns the same moves, but from those moves, each wrestler is able to develop their own style. And just as Davis did with collegiate wrestling, he's slowly developing his own MMA style, Dubin said.
A style that soon could be unleashed on MMA's pro ranks.
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