Davis looks to beat Saunders
Date: 2009-11-19 00:00:00
Source: http://www.tsn.ca/mma/story/?id=298819...
Submitted By: Fight Videos
LAS VEGAS - Marcus (The Irish Hand Grenade) Davis may never get over losing to Dan (The Outlaw) Hardy. But he reckons he can get better because of it. Since dropping a split decision to the English welterweight in a genuine grudge match at UFC 99 in June, the 36-year-old Davis has revamped his training to focus on speed rather than power. He will showcase the new approach Saturday against Ben (Killa B) Saunders at UFC 106 in Las Vegas. While the loss to Hardy rankles, Davis has looked hard for the positives. "I think sometimes something like what happened in my last fight needs to happen for a fighter to make some major changes and change the way maybe he looks at and approaches the way he fights in the future. And change the approach of how he's going to train in the present time," he explained. "So I've done a lot of changes and it's all been for the better." Davis (21-6 including 8-3 in the UFC) had ditched power training in favour of focusing on movement and speed. Trainer Mark DellaGrottte and others in his camp had long counselled him to forget about one-punch power, to speed up the attack and throw more combinations. "So I just said 'You know what I'm going to give it a try, I'll do it,' and (I) stuck with it and it's really, really paid off," Davis said. "It's been aces this whole camp." Davis will need to be quick to breach Saunders's defences. At six foot three, the 26-year-old Saunders has five inches in height and 7.5 inches in reach advantage. "It's going to be a tough fight," Davis said. "He is the tallest guy I've ever fought in both my professional MMA and my boxing career, in kickboxing and everything. Although I'm always the shorter guy." "My footwork will get me in, my speed will get me in quickly and let me get off before he does," he added. "The issue is going to be his awkwardness ... he can fight lefty, he can fight righty." Saunders (7-1-2, including 3-1 in the UFC) is also coming off a loss at UFC 99, where he suffered his first UFC defeat at the hands of Mike (Quick) Swick, who also beat Davis at UFC 85. On the mental side of the game, Davis now acknowledges what everyone else already knew. That he let Hardy's trash-talking -- calling him a "fake Irishman" among other barbs -- get under his skin. Davis wears his heart on his sleeve and is genuinely proud of his heritage. He had also made a name of himself in Europe, going 5-1 on UFC cards there. Hardy, with just two UFC wins under his belt, knew a victory over Davis would vault him up the 170-pound ladder. The Brit, a savvy fighter who knows how to promote himself, did what he needed to do. And with Davis' unwitting help, he essentially talked the bout up into becoming the co-main event of the German card. "What that fight did, it helped me realize that I focused too much on Dan Hardy and not so much on Marcus Davis," Davis said by way of understatement. It affected him before and during the fight. Davis took Hardy down in the first round and mounted him. But the red mist descended and strategy went out the window. "What I should have done is control by position and really locked him down and then started to work from there. Instead I left lots of gaps, lots of holes and just the whole time in my head I was thinking 'Just hit him in the face, just hit him, just hit him.' It's what I kept getting into my head. "There were a lot of things that I did that weren't intelligent and I repeated some non-intelligent things throughout the fight, that when I watch it now, after time has gone by I'm going, 'What are you doing, why did you do that?"' Just how much Hardy had got to Davis is shown during the fight when DellaGrotte exits the cage before the third round, telling Davis: "You're one round away from shutting him up." It remains a very close fight. Hardy probably won because he did more damage, hurting Davis with an elbow at the fence, dropping him with a knee and then taking Davis down and carving open his nose with an elbow in the final round. By the end of the fight, Davis -- a bleeder at the best of times -- was a bloody mess while Hardy was relatively unmarked. Adding to Davis' irritation is that the loss has dropped him to the undercard at UFC 106, a slight he's also trying to ignore. "All that stuff it's in the past and now I've got to move forward and I take that and I grow on it and I think it's helped me in this camp," Davis said. "Mark (DellaGrotte) would tell you that I'm slaughtering everyone that I'm working with," he added with a laugh. "I'm submitting black belts and I'm beating everybody up. I think people will be surprised when they see me." While Davis was unable to spar immediately after the Hardy fight because of the cut on his nose, he returned to the weight room immediately to deal with "some of those aggressions that I was trying to get out of me." He also put on some weight. He weighed 188 the day of the fight and was 207 pounds a few days later when he got home. He was between 210 and 215 on his birthday, thanks to a diet of steak, ice cream and cake. "But then I hopped right back into the gym and I haven't touched any weights since then. I've cut out the weightlifting completely, I've just focused on my technique and my speed." It should be said, Davis has changed things up before. After injuring his shoulder lifting weights prior to losing to Swick, he gave up weights to focus on speed. And he has complained of bulking up too much in the past. In addition to changing what he is working on in camp, Davis has also changed its structure. For Hardy, he left his home in Bangor, Maine, and moved into an apartment in DellaGrotte's Sityodtong USA gym in suburban Boston. For a fighter already consumed with his opponent, it was probably not the best idea. "You're waking up and if you have to go to the bathroom, you've got to cross the mats, the ring and everything so you're constantly surrounded with that. When they're doing private instruction and stuff at 6, 7 and 8 o'clock in the morning, you're hearing them kicking pads, kicking the bags and what not. And it just reminds you you're still stuck in the gym, and you start looking at the calendar going 'I've got three-a-days for the next three weeks or two weeks or whatever."' This time, the father of four (ranging three to 19) has broken it up -- spending 10 days at the gym and then a week at home. There's no bad blood going into this fight. Davis has met Saunders and likes him. Hardy, however, remains a different story. "The fight's over, the antics and whatever he does, it's now over, there's nothing I can do about it," Davis said. "I still don't care for the guy." Nor surprisingly, Davis had been rooting for Swick to beat Hardy in their title challenge elimination fight last Saturday at UFC 105. But Hardy won a decision and will now face Canadian champion Georges St. Pierre. Davis had hoped a Hardy loss might send him back down the ladder, and make a rematch possible. "You don't get to do many re-dos in your life and that's one I want to do."
