Bellator’s Phil Davis-King Mo winner gets Liam McGeary

Phil Davis doesn’t have a Bellator light-heavyweight title shot yet, but he will have that opportunity if he defeats Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal on Saturday at Bellator 154.

The San Diego-trained Davis (15-3) has been assured of a chance at the belt if he can post a victory over former Strikeforce champion Lawal (19-4) of Orange County in the Spike TV bout that will air at 5 p.m. PDT on DirecTV and 8 p.m. elsewhere.

Davis originally was scheduled to fight Lawal in the final of a four-man, one-night tournament in September, but Lawal was hurt in his bout and replaced by alternate Francis Carmont. Davis defeated Carmont by a first-round knockout.

Bellator champion Liam McGeary was supposed to be next in line, but McGeary has been sidelined by a knee injury, leading to Saturday’s title-elimination date between Davis and Lawal. McGeary is expected to recover in time to fight the Davis-Lawal winner, a Bellator official said, although the champion may take an interim fight.

Davis, a former UFC title contender and four-time All-American and 2008 NCAA wrestling champion at Penn State, has notable victories over UFC standouts Lyoto Machida, Alexander Gustafsson, Glover Teixeira and Antonio Rogerio Nogueira.

Lawal is riding a seven-fight winning streak and has competed three times on two consecutive nights, winning an eight-man heavyweight tournament in Japan for a New Year’s Eve card, representing Bellator.

“People make a bigger deal out of Phil than he is, in my opinion,” Lawal said. “People think because he fought in the UFC that I should be scared or doing something different with my training, but organizations don’t make fights. Styles make fights.”