Future champ? Pffff…Davis didn’t even have the courage to challenge a teammate after his victory.

Oh, fans, why do we do this to ourselves? We’ve been here so many times before, yet we never learn our lesson. We’ve declared the Brock Era, the Machida Era, and the Bones Era, but the only era we’re really in is one of unrealistic expectations. With his win over Lil’ Nog last night, Phil Davis extends his record to a perfect 9-0, with five of those victories coming in the past thirteen months, but it isn’t enough, is it? No, not when some of the most recognizable faces in the sport are created in 12 short episodes of reality tv. Not when Jon Jones violently takes the belt at the age of 23. Last night Phil Davis struggled with his takedowns. His standup still needs work. He failed to rag doll Nogueira and put him away with a freshly minted submission. He looked {gasp} like an evolving fighter.

Not long ago it would have been enough for an up and coming prospect just over two years into his career to take out a highly respected MMA veteran on the sport’s biggest stage, but that’s not the world we live in. Maybe there were just too many similarities between Davis and Jones to let the comparisons slide. They’re both young fighters with very impressive wrestling. They were both undefeated (yeah, screw that Hamill thing) headed into their last fight on short notice against a far more experienced Brazilian legend. Yeah, they even kind of look alike too. What we saw last night is that there’s only one Jon Jones, but that doesn’t mean “Mr. Wonderful” didn’t display the qualities that make a champion.

Based on his fights with Jason Brilz and Ryan Bader, many expected Nogueira’s back to hit the mat and hit it often. Minotoro however showed greatly improved takedown defense, which spelled trouble for Davis early on. Having all five of his first round shots stuffed, Davis was forced to stand with the decorated boxer. He used his long reach and a bevy of kicks to stay outside the range of Nogueira’s fist-focused attack, but he still ate some shots. While striking is clearly still not his forte, he managed to avoid any real danger and take the first round on all of the judges scorecards. His failures to get the fight to the ground must have been disheartening, but Davis did not wilt. Rather he adapted mid-fight and switched up his attack with single-leg shots, bringing Nogueira to the canvas. That tenacity and determination would dictate the rest of the fight, with Davis scoring two more takedowns in the third round. He controlled the fight on the ground and walked away with the decision.

Davis’s only test last night was to defeat Nogueira, and he did just that. It wasn’t flashy, it wasn’t the fight of the night, but it was impressive. The reason Jon Jones is so exceptional is because he’s so…well, exceptional. If everyone could walk into an MMA gym and take home a championship a few years later, his story would be commonplace. As fans we can try to predict the future and hold fighters to whatever expectations we put forth, but Davis needs only to continue down the same path–winning one fight at a time as he improves his all around skills–if he wants to make it to the top of his division. That’s good enough for me.

- Chris Colemon