"I’m guessing you’re going to see me fight Luke Cummo or Chris Lytle in June."

Boxingtalk recently caught up with UFC welterweight contender Marcus Davis fresh off of his UFC 69 submission victory over Pete Spratt. Davis, a former pro boxer, talks about the differences between boxing and MMA as well as the changing of the guard in the welterweight division with Matt Serra becoming champion. Check it out!

PC: Congratulations on your win at UFC 69 over Pete Spratt.

MD: Yeah, Pete was a big win. Thanks.

PC: Your ground game has improved leaps and bounds from when you were on the show. Who have you been working with to improve in that area?

MD: I owe a lot working with Jorge Gurgel. He’s a friend I made while being on the Ultimate Fighter 2. My trainer, Sit Yod Tong, Kenny Florian and his brother Keith also helped a lot. I worked with a lot of tough ground guys. I picked up a lot.

PC: What experience did you get from being on the Ultimate Fighter?

MD: As far as what it did for me as a fighter, the biggest thing is it showed me how one dimensional I was and what I need to do to go to the next level. It really opened my eyes to that and it gave me the exposure and the ability to meet people like Jorge and other people. I had the opportunity to train with Randy Couture and Rich Franklin and I’m friends with a lot of Miletich guys, so it opened up a lot of doors for me.

PC: Pete Spratt was a tough opponent. What was your gameplan going into UFC 69 to assure yourself that your hand would be raised?

MD: My gameplan for Pete was to close the distance so that he couldn’t kick me and I could use my hands. I knew I had better hands than Pete, but his feet were better than mine. I wanted to get close and use my hands. If you watch the fight close, in the first round, every time I get close and hit him, he didn’t punch back; and I throw him. He would clinch me in close and I knew I would be able to take him down because my wrestling was a lot better. I didn’t want to finish it on the ground. I wanted to show people that I can knock him out standing. In the second round, I hit him with a short right hook and just missed him with a left hook and it knocked him down. He got back up and then I took him down again and figured I’m going to go for the leg lock because he kept offering it to me.

PC: You were a pro boxer and now you’re submitting all of these guys. What’s up with that?

MD: I was a boxer in a MMA fight. I just felt like my hands were going to be so much better than those guys. I had the same thought that all boxers have, “It’s MMA and their hands are so bad and ours is so good, I’ll hit them before they take me down.” That’s not reality. You will be taken down in MMA and if you’re a boxer, you’re going down real easy. A boxer has such a staggered stance that they don’t square up enough. In MMA, you have to give them angles because you have to be able to sprawl, knee; you can’t knee out of a boxing stance. I knew I had to change the way I fight. I started concentrating on my wrestling and my Jiu Jitsu. After I did the show, my next 8 opponents were thinking if they got me to the ground they had me beat and the second we hit the ground they relaxed because they felt they had me where they wanted me and I’d lock them in a choke or armbar. 

PC: It’s been a lot of talk about boxing opposed to MMA. Being that you’ve done both, can you give your thoughts on the whole matter?

MD: Boxing is much easier to train for than MMA. In boxing, you can throw a quick combination and then rest. You could pace yourself in boxing to where you can’t pace yourself in MMA; it’s 5 minutes of stress in every round. In MMA, its 5 minute rounds and it’s just 15 or 25 minutes, but it’s fighting the whole time. Boxing may be longer, but there’s a lot of down time. There is no downtime in MMA. The second you relax, somebody is shooting in or throwing a leg kick at you. If you’re in a clinch in a boxing match, you hold each other for a minute and then the referee comes and breaks you, you take a few steps back and then start back dancing around each other looking for an opening. The second you get into a clinch in MMA, you’re catching elbows and knees and your balance is being checked constantly.

PC: There has been a changing of the guard in the welterweight division with Matt Serra defeating George St. Pierre. What did you think of that fight and how does that restructure the division?

MD: It is causing a big mess. Everybody is coming out of the woodworks saying they deserve a title shot. Everybody wants to fight Matt Serra because they think it’s going to be an easy fight now; which it isn’t. That’s another difference in MMA and boxing. In boxing, you can have skill and get away with being lazy and all kinds of stuff just off of your God given talent. You can’t do that in MMA because it’s too many things happening; too many weapons. Anybody can get caught, anybody can get knocked out. Those are some tiny little gloves, so it’s a whole different sport. People are looking at Matt Serra as an easy target, but nobody is, not in the top 10. I don’t know what’s going to happen now. I heard they are going to let Matt Hughes fight Matt Serra. I really don’t have no comment about that. I think right now, there’s a guy named Jon Fitch whose been tearing it up in the welterweight division. He hasn’t lost and he has 5 wins in a row. To me, it seems like he should get a crack at the title. It’s a mess. The problem with Koscheck is that him and Fitch are teammates and Swick wants to drop down to 170 from 185, so that’s going to put another one of their AKA guys in there too. You have all these AKA guys in the 170 pound division that are all top 10 guys and that makes a mess of things.

PC: You are on an 8 fight winning streak. Where do you place yourself in the welterweight division and when would you like to fight again?

MD: Yeah, I’ve won 8 in a row, 3 in the UFC and I’m probably somewhere around the top 20; definitely not the top 10. I think right now, I have to start taking out some more top 20 guys like Luke Cummo and Chris Lytle, guys like that and then I will be in the top 10. I have been told that I will be fighting in Ireland on June 16th. They haven’t told me anything on who I will be fighting, but that’s the date.

PC: With the UFC purchasing of Pride, does that add any pressure on you to look good every time out? Will you stay within yourself and keep racking up wins?

MD: There’s a little bit of pressure because you do want to win and look good doing so, but at the same time I don’t want to go home with only half a paycheck. I’m going to do what I have to do to win the fight. The fights that I’m usually involved in are going to be exciting as long as guys don’t try to take me down all the time. If I get a guy who wants to stand and strike, that’s what people are going to see. It’s all relative to who you are fighting if it’s going to be an exciting fight or not. I’m friends with Luke Cummo, but the UFC wants to see that fight. They’ve already told me that they want me to fight Luke Cummo. It’s business, nothing personal. I think that will be a good fight because Luke will stand with me and I’ll definitely stand with Luke. Luke doesn’t do takedowns. They have talked about Chris Lytle too, but Lytle isn’t going to stand with me. He won’t fight me like he fought Robbie Lawler. Robbie beat him because Lytle settled into standing up with him the whole time. Styles make fights. I’m going to guess you are going to see me fight Luke or Chris Lytle or maybe somebody from the UK. No one has told me anything, but that’s what I’m guessing.

PC: I appreciate the interview Marcus. Is there anything you want to say in closing?

MD: I want to thank Jorge Gurgel and Team Gurgel for working with me. I want to thank my coach, Mark, it’s going to be good working with him again, Kenny Florian and my family; also my manager Joe Cavallaro.

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