What does ‘Mr Wonderful’ work on when he’s not officially in camp? And what’s the secret behind those incredible shoulders? Aundre Jacobs investigates...

Fresh off a big fight win, you’d expect Phil Davis to be sitting by a pool somewhere with a cocktail in hand, enjoying life and basking in glory. After earning his third victory in a row no one could blame him for kicking back; it’s what most fighters deserve after a long, arduous 10-week camp in which they’ve broken down, then rebuilt their body to perfect fighting condition.

However, even after defeating former champion Lyoto Machida in the co-main event at UFC 163, Davis is back in the gym working on the things he believes will help carry him closer to that elusive championship matchup. With a coaching crew that includes head trainer Eric Del Fierro and strength and conditioning genius Chad Macias among others, Alliance MMA’s top contender is preparing himself for a serious run at the UFC belt.

Despite some initial thoughts about sharing a cocktail or two, when THFE arrived in San Diego Davis was already back at the grindstone.

In an exclusive interview, he laughs off any questions about a training diet, explaining he eats what he wants when he wants; and he reveals how he’s managed to get the biggest and baddest lats in MMA, and how you can get them too; plus, he tells us how he’s had to adapt his NCAA championship wrestling style for the Octagon... This is ‘Mr Wonderful’ at his very best.

Evolution of a fighter

Just one week after edging a decision victory over ‘The Dragon’ Lyoto Machida, Davis is already back inside the four walls of Alliance MMA discussing game plans with Del Fierro, the man behind the likes of Dominick Cruz and Brandon Vera.

The coach has been with Davis from the beginning of his UFC career and although he has had significant input into what Davis does inside the Octagon, Davis insists it’s his ability to let him grow as a fighter that has been his biggest asset.

“It’s not so much that he’s done something specifically, he’s just allowed me to grow and develop my own style,” Davis explains to THFE, as Del Fierro works with the next light heavyweight contender, Alexander Gustafsson, just across the gym.

“He’s coached my style uniquely. Some coaches can only coach an athlete to be a certain type of way, whereas he’s allowed me to be able to develop my own style of fighting.”

His style of fighting, much like many in the UFC, is based around his abilities as a wrestler.

The level of good collegiate wrestlers within the 205lb division has always been very impressive. However, when it comes to sheer wrestling pedigree, Davis is by far the most talented. An NCAA Division 1 champion in 2008, he has always been able to utilize his wrestling skills to put his opponents on their back and keep them there.

To fans who know little about wrestling it’s seemingly obvious that someone with Davis’ pedigree should be able to take down and control opponents on the floor with such supreme dominance. But unbeknownst to them, being an NCAA champion doesn’t mean you’ll instantly find success in MMA. Davis agrees, adding: “There are techniques in wrestling that just do not work in MMA because there’s a cage, there’s a third barrier. In a wrestling match there’s the ground and your opponent, but in MMA the cage is added.

“The techniques need to change because you expect guys to fall down but then they don’t because of the cage. They’ll put their back to the fence to stop themselves from being taken down.”

He adds: “The biggest thing for me is to keep my wrestling moves clean. Sometimes I’ll make a move longer than it needs to be. For me it was a matter of changing my style of wrestling more towards MMA.”

Even though he’s been under the tutelage of Del Fierro for many years, and has wrestling chops that most mixed martial artists would kill for, Davis is the first to tell you he still considers himself a work in progress. Like many wrestlers who have come before him, Davis has had to spend a significant amount of time focusing on his striking skills. An area he still strives to improve in.

“I would have to say striking has been the hardest part for me as it was completely foreign. It has really taken some time for me to feel comfortable learning the striking aspect of things,” he explains, while wrapping his hands readying himself for a mitts session with boxing coach Adrian Melendez.

“However, just like anything you’re working on you have to be patient and stay with it. Eventually it will come.”

Working with Mr. Wonderful: Eric Del Fierro, head coach

When did you begin working together? And did you notice his potential right away?

I met Phil in late 2008. He came to our camp after he met Dominick Cruz at a wrestling camp in Pennsylvania. He trained with us for a bit when he was an amateur fighter, but I don’t think he had made up his mind whether he was going to fight professionally. I saw his potential once he started training as he would ask tons of questions, and when I gave him specific things to work on he would stay in the gym and drill the moves constantly. I would actually leave to go home and he would still be drilling. I didn’t know if he had what it takes to fight till after he did a full camp with us for his fight in PFC. After that I encouraged him to go try different camps to see what was the best fit for him.

How long did it take for him to get used to the idea of setting up his takedowns with strikes instead of the way he learned to set up takedowns in wrestling?

Strangely, the answer to this question is a yes-and-no one. Did it take long to transition to MMA takedowns from wrestling takedowns? Yes it did, but we didn’t have a chance to just train and get better. His training was very on-the-job. Within four months of moving to San Diego the UFC called and booked him a fight against Brian Stann. We couldn’t say no. For the whole of that fight we used strikes to set up takedowns. We probably had three series that we drilled for that fight and those were the moves he used to take Brian down. It worked in our favor.

What kind of stuff did you work on to negate Lyoto Machida’s attacks at UFC 163?

Machida is a very tough opponent; he is the guy no one wants to fight. He is a tough puzzle to figure out. All we did was mirror Machida’s style. We controlled the range and pace of the fight. Machida’s strength is that his opponents get over aggressive and he makes you pay for that.

The 'Wonderful' workout

Finished with morning team practice, Davis heads over to the Institute for Human Kinetics in San Diego for one of the five strength and conditioning sessions he does each week.

Working with strength coach and kinesiologist Chad Macias, Davis has pushed on to another level as an athlete, incorporating new scientific approaches to his workout so he’s more explosive than ever.

One of the most noticeable things about Davis’ physique, and an area he and Macias have been working on, are his lats.

As anyone who has ever tuned into a UFC weigh-in can testify, Davis’ upper body would turn Greek gods green with envy. However, according to the fighter, it wasn’t years of pumping iron in the gym that helped him develop his most noticeable physical feature.

“My lats are something I’ve developed through years of wrestling,” he explains, reaching up to the pull-up bar. “You get huge lats from doing a lot of pulling, lots of pushing; and I did a lot of rope climbs too.

When I was in college my coach wouldn’t let me leave the room until I did 10 rope climbs. I had to do it every single day.

“If people want really big lats I’d suggest they do exercises like dips, which are a really good, old-school exercise, and use the rowing machine as the pulling motion really activates the lats.

And the overhead press too. The overhead press is usually for working on your deltoids, but my strength and conditioning coach has me go very slow when I do it, so I end up working the lats too.”

Although the huge lats are impressive and help with throwing opponents around the Octagon, it’s become common knowledge that fighters who have a similar muscular physique to Davis are prone to gas out quickly. However, in the six times Davis has gone to a decision in his career he’s never once looked tired.

So what is Mr. Wonderful doing to make sure his opponents can’t keep up with him in the cage?

“I incorporate a lot of running and hill sprints into my cardio training. They’ve worked really well for me,” he says. “I think that fitness is important because it’s one of the few things you can control. You don’t always have control over techniques or anything like that, but you can control how fit you are when you step inside of the cage.”

Even though he clearly loves his job as a fighter, and the fact he spends a large amount of his time working out in the gym trying to make himself stronger, faster and better, Davis still has some exercises he just doesn’t like. “My least favorite exercise to do is the bench press,” he says with a chuckle.

“I have really long arms and there’s never really a spot where I’m able to put up great numbers. My favorite is probably the leg press. I don’t really know what numbers I’m putting up when I’m doing the leg press as my coach doesn’t want me to get caught up in the numbers game.

“He knows the numbers and he keeps track of it. Psychologically there’s something that takes place when you start keeping track of the numbers. My coach is more about doing the workout that’s necessary for today.

“I let him put the weights on and he’ll ask me whether it’s too much or too light. There have been times where I’ll tell him that it’s too light because I want to go heavy and I’ll get to the last rep of a set of five or six and then he’ll tell me that I’m done, that he didn’t want me to go too heavy today. It’s not always about working out to failure.”

Phil Davis' latissimus dorsi workout

When it comes to having impressive body parts, Phil Davis might have the most impressive-looking lats in MMA history.

To find out how he has managed to get the best lats in the business we spoke to his strength and conditioning coach, Chad Macias

• Pull-ups: 6–8 reps (4 sets)
• Overhead slam: 6–8 reps (4 sets)
• Lat pull-downs: 6–8 reps (4 sets)
• Seated rows: 6–8 reps (4 sets)

PRO TIP: The key to putting the most power possible into your overhead medicine ball slams is your core. As you throw the ball down a few inches in front, contract your abs.

Chad Macias: Strength & conditioning coach

At what level was Phil’s strength and conditioning when you first met, and how has it developed?

I’ve been working with Phil for one-and-a-half years. When I started training him he was coming off his first loss to Rashad Evans at UFC on Fox 2.

He was very flat-footed and not explosive at all for an athlete of his stature. The way 99% of MMA fighters train is very counter-productive to their actual needs as an athlete. With Phil’s genetics he adapts exceptionally well to my training. We spend 12 to 15 hours a week working so it’s a big difference.

What are you doing differently compared to other S&C coaches?

Everything I am doing is different to anybody out there. I’m the only one in the United States, and one of only a few in the world, that has developed blood lactate profiles for both Phil and for the sport of MMA. I take blood samples during our conditioning work to see what his aerobic base and anaerobic threshold are and how they are responding to the training.

I use another advanced technique called intermittent normoxia, which means I have Phil sleeping in an altitude tent but living and training at sea level. This never allows his body to adapt to the elevation and it forces the body to produce more EPO, increasing not only the hematocrit levels but also the size of the red blood cells and the size of the binding site for oxygen.

All of that allows his body to increase the amount of oxygen per red blood cell, and also the total volume being carried throughout his body.

How has the work you’ve done together helped him improve as a mixed martial artist?

The training has improved every single area for him. He is more explosive and now fights more on his toes; he’s moving around the cage like a welterweight. His ability to get in and out with punch combinations or shoot for takedowns has also increased, which you can see in his recent fights with Wagner Prado and Vinny Magalhaes. When he fought Machida he tore his other PCL 20 seconds into the first round, with a front kick to the knee, and was still able to fight at a very high level, and come away with a victory.

Most fighters would have been destroyed under those circumstances. His ability to recover between rounds is unheard of and has helped him dramatically in his performance by not having to worry about his body ever letting him down. He is able to bring his heart rate down from 190 to 140 in 30 seconds.

Phil Davis' diet

With two sessions banked it’s time to refuel for the day, and so we head to a nearby restaurant where Davis surprisingly orders from the vegan menu. Is he indeed one of the few vegans in mixed martial arts? Not quite.

“I have a buddy who is a vegan and he’s helped bring some vegan meals into my diet and it’s starting to work. The more vegan meals I have the better I’m starting to feel. I’m not going to become a total vegan, but it’s definitely working for me.

If you’re really in tune with your body you really start to notice the difference the more you eat,” he says.

“Everything I do in terms of diet is completely liveable and I do it 365 days a year. At the same time there isn’t a day that goes by when I won’t pick up a lollipop; anybody that knows me knows that’s a fact (laughs). I don’t care if it’s the day of the fight or even the weigh-ins.

“My job as an athlete is to make sure I’m taking care of my body. I should never be feeding myself a bunch of junk, but I should never

be stressing myself out over a diet either. A diet is just a record of everything you’ve eaten; you’re only doing it short term to make some sort of physical gain.

A diet needs to be permanent, long-lasting and something you can stick to because it doesn’t feel like hard work.

“You should be able to enjoy a good meal but know that you’re going to be a little bit heavier the next day compared to if you didn’t eat it.

If you feel that having a piece of cake or some ice cream will alleviate some stress and help you keep your head on your shoulders at the end of a training camp, go eat some ice cream and chill out.”

Even when a fight isn’t scheduled, Davis still lives his life as if he’s in training camp. For some fighters this would be a maddening experience; however, as he bids us farewell we finally begin to understand why he does it.

Even though he has a laid-back and light-hearted demeanor with everyone around him, he has an intense will to win and in his mind, to be a UFC champion, you need to be able to train like a champ 365 days a year.

And if that means doing backbreaking strength and conditioning sessions five days a week, after a morning practice with some of the most vicious fighters in the sport, it’s worth the extra hours in the gym.