Marcus Davis Interview

Top Ten Welterweight Marcus “The Irish Hand Grenade” Davis recently chatted with Ben Zeidler about his big winning streak, his upcoming fight with Jess Liaudin, and taking on Georges St. Pierre down the road. Originally conducted for MMA Madness

Ben Zeidler: Tell us about working with Tim Sylvia at the bar and how that led you to a career in MMA.

Marcus Davis: Yeah, sure. It was 1995 and Tim and I were doormen together at a bar. I became the GM of the bar and so I had all the doormen going to a boxing and MMA school inside a Gold's Gym. I made it mandatory that the doormen go there to train. Tim was a real big guy, about 235 pounds and playing semi pro football, but he needed to learn how to throw some hands. So I started working with Tim and he said he wanted to try the Pancrase stuff. He did three or four of those, ended up meeting Pat Miletich, and that's how it all started.

Ben Zeidler: So where did you come into the mix?

Marcus Davis: Well after Tim left, I was still training boxing. I wanted to do some MMA stuff too so I went out, trained with Tim, met Miletich, and decided that I wanted to do this.

Ben Zeidler: The man who beat you during your time on TUF, Melvin Guillard, has been having some troubles in the Octagon lately. When we talked to him the other week, he admitted that you are a much better fighter now than when he beat you. He did say, however, that he would still have the advantage. How do you see that fight going now?

Marcus Davis: You know, just like Melvin thinks he would beat me, I think I would beat him I think that my mistake against Melvin and Stevenson was, well my mistakes were two things. One, I was a much more superior striker but they took me out of my game. I waited, circled, stayed away waiting to set things up. I didn't create anything. Since then, I haven't waited. I brought it to everyone I fought and I've beat ten guys in a row. And you know, I've become a much better all around fighter during this time. I've become a good grappler, a good wrestler, I'm decent at takedowns, takedown defense, and I'm just much more well rounded. I'm more well rounded than Melvin, too. Melvin has great, explosive wrestling but his technique is sloppy. He's got no submission game and I've submitted 9 guys in my career. I've only gone the distance on two fights that I've won, I've knocked out 7 and submitted 9. I've got a good game.

Ben Zeidler: Since that fight, you're on a winning streak of over two years. What do you attribute this success to?

Marcus Davis: It's a combination of things. My game is well rounded because I train with guys to work on my weaknesses. I worked with Jorge Gurgel for fighting on my back. I used to hate being on my back and now I'm submitting people from there. Mark Delagrotti has been working with me for a long time and getting me comfortable with knees, elbows, and kicks. I worked out just last night with Kenny and Keith Florian, two jiu-jitsu black belts. I'm just filling in all the holes in my game. I'm much more confident and I create openings instead of waiting. I bring to to people. That was my issue before, but it's not a problem now.

Ben Zeidler: You've got an upcoming fight with Jess Liaudin. How do you see yourself matching up with him?

Marcus Davis: I think I match up really well with him It's a tough fight, he's very dangerous and underrated. He's got a great grappling game, decent strikes, but he tries risky stuff. He likes the flying hooks and spinning backfists. I'm more technically sound and I'm faster. I think I'm stronger than him in a lot of areas. Everywhere I read, he's telling people that he's gonna stand with me, that he's gonna knock me out. I can tell you that even if he believes he's going to stand with me, once I touch him, he's gonna switch to wrestling. I knock people out with jabs, just ask Shonie Carter. He's gonna get hit once by me and go "wow, I can't believe he hits that hard." I'm training ground, I'm training stand up, so I don't know where it's going to finish but I think he's [Liaudin] right when he says it's gonna end in the first.

Ben Zeidler: Sounds like it's gonna be an exciting fight.

Marcus Davis: Oh yeah, it'll be a good one.

Ben Zeidler: Being undefeated in UFC competition, how many fights do you think it'll take before you earn title consideration?

Marcus Davis: I'm patient so I don't really care (laughs). I fight to fight. I'm 5 wins in a row, about to be 6, so if I get up to 25 wins, at some point, I'll get a title shot. If I don't get one during my career, I'm not gonna look back and say I should have had one. I'll just say "geez, I had a great time doing that." I won't have any regrets and I'm in no rush.

Ben Zeidler: Where do you rank yourself among the other Welterweights? It seems like you're starting to creep into the top ten in a lot of polls.

Marcus Davis: You know what, that's hard to say. I didn't think I was a top 10. I thought maybe top 15. There's guys in the top 10 who I think I could beat and there's guys in the top 10 whose styles would give me trouble. It's all about styles. I could beat certain guys in the top 10 but have trouble with guys ranked below me. I'm not too concerned with all that though. You know, if I were #2, there would be 10,000 guys saying I shouldn't be there.

Ben Zeidler: Tell us a little bit about your big win against Paul Taylor. Did you expect to win by submission or was that a surprise?

Marcus Davis: No, I thought I would catch him with my hands standing up or if we hit the ground, I knew I would be able to submit him I'm a much better grappler than the guys he's fought and the guys he trains with. All the UK grapplers are way behind the ones in the United States. It's like going to Japan and they're still wearing Wrangler Jeans and listening to disco. That's where they are when it comes to the ground game.

Ben Zeidler: What'd you think of the GSP-Hughes fight? Did you go?

Marcus Davis: I didn't go. After training that day, I watched it with my manager. Man, he is scary. Just...I don't even know...un-friggin-believeable.

Ben Zeidler: So, how many years before you're ready to fight GSP?

Marcus Davis: (Laughs) You know, people ask me all the time, what if they told you that you had to fight GSP. I always say the same thing. I'd show up and fight him. GSP's wrestling is light years ahead of mine. Like I'm in Kindergarten and he's a professor at a college. He's a better kicker...a better everything. But he got caught by Matt Serra and I hit harder than him. I hit harder than anyone in the sport, I would say. Mark and I train and he wears mitts and he still says it hurts and he needs to take a break. If he made the mistake of weaving when he bobbed, he'd need help tying his shoes for two weeks. In this sport, it's whoever wants it more and who makes the right decisions.

Ben Zeidler: Any sponsors you'd like to thank? Websites you want to plug?

Marcus Davis: Irishhandgrenade.com and full contact fighter. Joe, with full contact, has been with me the whole time and I'm staying with them. I've had big offers from other companies, but my loyalty is with them.

Ben Zeidler: Anything to say to your fans?

Marcus Davis: Hey, you know what, I appreciate the support coming from the show like I did and doing a sucky sucky job. And now I have fans and having people supporting me in America and the UK has been great.