UFC 89: Marcus Davis blog

Eurosport - Fri, 26 Sep 12:34:00 2008

Follow Marcus Davis as he builds up to his UFC 89 clash against Paul Kelly on October 18.

MIXED MARTIAL ARTS; Marcus Davis, UFC - 0

Adopted Briton Marcus Davis, 'The Irish Hand Grenade', is coming off a decision loss to Mike Swick at UFC 85 in July, the first loss in 11 fights for the former Ultimate Fighter contestant.

Despite the defeat, Davis still remains in the 170-pound title hunt and a win against Kelly is critical if he wants to stay among the top players in a crowded welterweight division.

Kelly is the undefeated Englishman based out of Mike Bisping's Wolfslair gym. He was victorious in his Octagon debut, out-pointing fellow countryman Paul Taylor at UFC 80 earlier this year.

Marcus will be keeping Eurosport-Yahoo! up-to-date with his preparations and thoughts in the build up to what should be a superb fight.

"When I took up fighting as an eight-year-old, I didn"t do so because I wanted to be rich or famous, or because I was thinking about belts and titles and stuff like that.

My mom said as a kid I was always running around punching and kicking something. I always wanted to be fighter, from as far back as I can remember - but the reason was never because there was someone on TV that I looked up to and wanted to be like.

I fight to fight. Always have. I enjoy it, and that's where my passion is. I am not someone who is obsessed with rankings and ratings and where the UFC see me in terms of the top 10 in the welterweight division.

But, of course, I have a family and four children and I want to be able to take care of them and leave something for them. It is important to me to get the big fights and the big pay-days, because it will mean I am taking care of my family. But I am not the sort of guy who would need a belt around my waist to be happy as a fighter. As long as people view me as someone who gives it their all, goes out to entertain their fans and stays in the upper tier of UFC fighters, that's enough for me.

Where the UFC have me in terms of the welterweight division right now, I have no idea. They fixed me up last fight with Mike Swick, who was one of their top guys at 185lbs, and I lost narrowly to him even though my injury meant I was basically only fighting with one arm.

I think I am dangerous to all the fighters in the welterweight division - Georges St Pierre included. I would go into a fight with GSP knowing that he was going to absolutely dominate me on the ground. I mean, he is so far ahead of me there. The guy is built like a gymnast; he can move his body in ways and at speeds that I just can't physically match.

I would have to go in there to knock him out. There would just be no other way of me winning that fight. He would have so many more opportunities to beat me than I would have to beat him; he could submit me, win a decision, ground and pound, out-grapple me. No question.

But Matt Serra went in there and proved that he isn't some sort of Superman. People discredited Serra for what he did, but a knock-out is a knock-out - and I would go into a fight with GSP believing I could do the same.

In terms of the fighters below GSP in the rankings, I would also consider myself dangerous to them. Josh Koschek would be a difficult fight for me on the ground, but Josh is a training partner of Mike Swick and his stand-up isn't as good as Swick's. I would be confident of knocking him out.

Thiago Alves and I have fought before [in the Hardcore Fighting Championships] back in 2003. I lost that fight on a split-decision and people that saw that fight said it was the best they have ever seen; he and I match-up really well.

MMA is all about the match-up. Just because Fighter A can beat Fighter B, and Fighter B can beat Fighter C, doesn't mean that Fighter C can't beat Fighter A. MMA mathematics doesn't always add up like that.

But for me to get a match-up against a Koscheck or an Alves or a Diego Sanchez, I have got to get back to winning fights. I was on an 11-fight streak before I lost to Swick; I have got to get back on that sort of streak, keep beating the guy the UFC put in front of me, beat Swick again and basically make it impossible for them to ignore me.

I have to bide my time, win every single fight I have. I still have my eye on what happens at the top of the rankings, though. GSP v BJ Penn is going to be one hell of a fight and I am all for it. I'm a huge BJ Penn fan; he is one of the top two fighters in the world for me, pound-for-pound.

It's definitely a fight that should happen. We have two guys who have proved themselves the best in their divisions; they have shown that over the last couple of years. And, for me, BJ is a better welterweight than anyone else in our division, so why not make the fight? If BJ doesn't win, he goes back to 155 and re-establishes himself there. If he does win, then we all stand in line for a shot at taking the belt off him.

In terms of my own fight against Paul Kelly, training has been going great this week. I have been doing two or three sessions a day. Pad work with Mark DellaGrotte, reinforcing the plan we have worked out for Paul. I am working with my strength coach Garth Crane three days a week, making me more limber and working on muscle strength rather than power, which is where I went wrong with the weightlifting before my previous fight.

I have also been sparring with some really tough guys, doing some great sessions with wrestlers, working on my take-down defence and getting up from the ground.

The plan is to look at where Paul has his strengths and then take them away from him. If he can't keep me on my back, then he is going to have to stand in front of me. And if he does that, I am going to punch holes in him.

Until next week..."

Marcus was speaking to Alex Sharratt. UFC 89 from the NIA in Birmingham will be live on Setanta Sports 8pm October 18.

Eurosport

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  1. War Marcus!

    From Paul P, on Thu 25 Sep 3:23PM
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