Nov-18-2009

New Goals, A New Fight, A New Marcus Davis

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By Thomas Gerbasi

If you ask Marcus Davis how long it took for him to get over the disappointment of his split decision loss to Dan Hardy at UFC 99 in June, and he doesn’t hesitate for a moment in response.

“I’ll never get over that. I just kinda live with it, and that’s what I’m doing now,” said the welterweight contender. “I won’t get over it until I get to do it again and make up for the mistakes I made. Like fighters always feel, they don’t feel like the other guy won the fight; they feel as though they lost the fight and let it go. There were things that I should have done and could have done that would have made the outcome very different, and it’s that whole woulda, coulda, shoulda bulls**t, and I’ve got to get past that and move on.”

Now Davis has lost before, once as a pro boxer and five previous times as a mixed martial artist. But this most recent defeat stung like no other, and not just because of the nip and tuck nature of the bout, but because of all the pre-fight banter before the bout that left Davis incensed and ready to do about anything within the rules to make Hardy’s life miserable. If he never won another fight in his life, he wanted this one, and it affected him at home, in the gym, and in the Octagon.

But it’s over now, and while the loss still eats at him, Davis realizes what went wrong that night and in the camp leading up to the bout, and he’s moved on. Saturday night in Las Vegas, he faces Ben Saunders, and the lead-up to this surefire war has been nothing like the pre-Hardy hype.

“God works in mysterious ways, and next I’ve got Ben Saunders, somebody who is the polar opposite (from Dan Hardy), somebody who I respect and like,” said Davis. “I spent time talking to him, he’s a good guy, and as far as being martial artists, we’re both Bruce Lee fanatics and have a lot of that same similarity there.”

And it’s not just his feelings about his opponent that’s changed. Davis will be fighting in the United States for the first time since he submitted Pete Spratt at UFC 69 in April of 2007. Since then, ‘The Irish Hand Grenade’ has fought exclusively in Europe, getting Belfast, London, Newcastle, Birmingham, Dublin, and Cologne, stamped on his passport.

“It’s a little strange after spending two years overseas,” admits Davis when asked about fighting at home. “What’s gonna be even stranger is that I’m actually gonna have friends and family there, which doesn’t ever happen. But it’s all right. I’m glad to be able to come home and get a fight here. Who knows what’s gonna happen after the this. I don’t know where the UFC will put me or where they’ll use me. I’m down for whatever. That’s what I’m about.”

Being on home soil may even have a bit of a psychological advantage for Davis, considering that he hasn’t lost at home since 2005, with his last two losses coming in Europe. But just fighting anyone other than Dan Hardy has lightened Davis’ mental outlook considerably.

“This training camp has been a lot easier in that I’m not doing a million interviews that just revolve around my negative feelings,” he said. “I’m not blowing up at the gym and I’m just doing a lot better in terms of concentrating on me and my training, and not so much on my opponent.”

At 36, Davis has also figured out what works and what doesn’t for him and his career. As a former pro boxer transitioning to mixed martial arts, Davis went through growing pains as he relied too much on his hands early on. Then he went in the other direction, focusing strictly on his ground game to compensate. Other offshoots of this involved camps where he focused strictly on Muay Thai or speed or strength. Finally, after over six years in the MMA game, he feels that he’s found his balance.

“I think that right now, finally, I’m at a point in my career where I’ve done enough of everything that I’m starting to put it all together much better,” he said. “It’s really coming out in the gym.”

Working in Maine with his own squad, Team Irish, as well as with SitYodTong’s Mark DellaGrotte and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu ace and UFC vet Jorge Gurgel in Massaschusetts, Davis says that he’s had one of the best camps of his UFC career for this fight, even becoming a bit of an “enforcer” in the gym for DellaGrotte, who has had the fighter in with all his top Muay Thai fighters and Jiu-Jitsu black belts putting Davis through the paces.

What has also changed for Davis since the Hardy fight is that he has altered his goals and expectations in the sport. Before, he was happy just to be able to leave the world of boxing and managing night clubs behind while making a living as a pro MMA fighter. Now, he admits that he wouldn’t mind putting together a few more wins and throwing his hat in the ring for a shot at the welterweight championship of the world.

“I want to be able to say at some point that at one time I got to fight for it once,” said Davis. “I’m at that point now, where before I wasn’t. I was always like ‘I don’t care, I just want to keep doing what I’m doing. I want to make a good living being a fighter.’ Now, when I see someone like Dan Hardy is fighting Mike Swick and the winner gets a shot at the title, it kinda pisses me off a little. It has refocused me and has made me reach a little higher. If these guys can do it, I can do it.”

There’s the “H” word again, but when it’s all said and done, if Marcus Davis walked away from the game today, he would be remembered for more than just one bad night. Fortunately for all the fans who enjoy watching him scrap, he has no desire to leave anytime soon. And as far as legacy goes, he says “Some people will say I’ve been glorified way too much, that I’m not as good as everybody thinks I am. Other people will say that I’m better, but it doesn’t bother me honestly. I was the street rat kid who was told to never think that I was gonna be a professional athlete and professional fighter. My only choice was to get a full-time job and do that kinda stuff and I didn’t do that. I’m living exactly the way I want to live and I don’t want to do anything other than fight. Even though I’m 36 years old, one of the saddest days of my life will be the day that I have to permanently hang up my gloves.”