Prior to signing with Bellator, Davis competed in the Ultimate Fighting Championship, where he achieved success as a top 5 Light Heavyweight contender and held a UFC record of 9–3 (1).

Davis first gained athletic notoriety in college as a wrestler for Penn State University, where he became an NCAA Division I champion in 2008.

He began wrestling when he was in the seventh grade[7] and then attended Harrisburg High School where he was a four-year team captain and letterman, with a 112–17 career record.

He also trained with many visiting fighters such as Dave Herman, Shanon Slack, Dominick Cruz, Jon Jones and Cain Velasquez.

When the LionHeart team disbanded in 2009, Davis moved to San Diego, California, to continue his training with Alliance MMA.

[citation needed] In 2009 he won the No Gi Grappling World Jiu-Jitsu Championship as a blue belt in the 221 lbs, Super Heavyweight division.

[11] Davis began his professional mixed martial arts career in 2008, compiling a record of 4–0 in regional promotions across the United States.

[16] Davis next faced Rodney Wallace on August 7, 2010, at UFC 117, replacing the injured Stanislav Nedkov.

[25] When UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Jon Jones pulled out of a long-awaited title fight for Rashad Evans, Phil Davis agreed to fight Evans on August 6, 2011, at UFC 133,[26] but on July 12, Davis pulled out of the event with a knee injury and was replaced by Tito Ortiz.

[32] The fight was ruled "No Contest" after an accidental eye poke at 1:28 of round 1 rendered Prado unable to continue.

[37] Davis faced Vinny Magalhães in a wrestler vs. BJJ specialist fight on April 27, 2013, at UFC 159.

[42] An SP Nation fanpost stated, "Some MMA commentators and bloggers scored the fight 30–27 for Lyoto Machida.

"[43] UFC president Dana White tweeted shortly after the fight that he had Machida winning all three rounds,[44] and later told Yahoo!

With an official win over the highly ranked Machida, Davis looked to move into title contention against Anthony "Rumble" Johnson who returned to the UFC[46] riding a six-fight win streak at light heavyweight (including one heavyweight fight) outside the promotion, following his disastrous and much-criticised previous UFC run at welterweight.

[49] Jones, who defended the UFC Light Heavyweight title against Glover Teixeira at the same event, took pleasure in mocking Davis' loss at the post-fight press conference,[50] and later on-line.

Following his final fight in the UFC, Davis parted from the organization and signed with Bellator MMA on April 15, 2015.

[60] However, Lawal was unable to advance to the finals due to a rib injury and was replaced by alternate Francis Carmont.

[62][63] By winning the tournament, Davis was set up to face Bellator Light Heavyweight Champion Liam McGeary at a yet-to-be-determined event.

[84] On February 9, 2021, it was announced that Davis would be participating in the Bellator Light Heavyweight World Grand Prix Tournament.

Davis is scheduled to face Vadim Nemkov for the Bellator Light Heavyweight World Championship in the quarterfinal round.