phil davis

Bellator 257 Media Day (Paul Daley and Phil Davis)

Bellator 257 goes down Friday, April 16th from Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut. The card broadcasts on Showtime and features multiple bouts in Bellator’s light heavyweight Grand Prix amid a varied event.

I spoke with Paul Daley and Phil Davis at the Bellator 257 Media Day with the excerpts from those interactions below.

Bellator 257 Media Day

Paul Daley

With this Sabah Homasi fight here, it’s been canceled a couple of times here. It seems like it’s been on your radar for around a year and a half.

How does it feel to finally be on the precipice of this fight finally coming to fruition?

“It’s just good to get back in there and compete. I was supposed to fight him a few times but everything happens for a reason. First time, he got injured. Second time, it was COVID. He might have even been in the lineup to fight against me in Italy. But he couldn’t get out there and it turns out that I wasn’t well after the weigh-ins there anyway. So the fight probably wouldn’t have happened. So the timing’s right, the stars have aligned, so the fight is supposed to happen. The universe says so and Friday we’re gonna fight.”

Phil Davis

I’ve talked to a couple fighters who have captured both lineal championships and grand prix titles and it seems like that Grand Prix title supersedes the divisional hardware in a certain regard.

Is that a sentiment you share if you get the ideal outcome in winning this Grand Prix?

“Well the last time I was in a light heavyweight tournament that was more difficult than a five round fight. That’s for sure. That’s for certain. So there’s that. However, that is not this tournament. This tournament is for sure absolute craziness. So, yes, beating (Vadim) Nemkov and winning the belt will be a special thing. A special moment, I’ll be extremely excited. But this tournament has too many of the who’s who and this will be one to be remembered.”

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Dylan Bowker
I've been enamored with combat sports for as long as I can remember. I've hosted MMA talk shows Lights Out and Pure Fight Radio with featured guests like Jens Pulver, Roy Nelson, Miesha Tate, Mark Coleman, and more. I've been an MMA broadcaster for XFFC as well as BTC and have done play by play commentary on live pay per view on GFL as well as FITE TV. I've provided written, audio, and video content covering some of the biggest MMA promotions like Rumble in the Cage, Unified MMA, and King of the Cage. I've worked as a sports entertainment personality for over five years and given play-by-play or featured promotions of KSW, ONE Championship, TKO, and Invicta FC. My work can be found in the USA Today Sports affiliate MMA Torch, Cageside Press, MMA Sucka, and Liberty Multimedia.