TUF Talk:
Marcus Davis
Maine native and former pro boxer Marcus Davis became the third welterweight to meet his untimely demise on this week's episode of The Ultimate Fighter 2 after he tapped out to Joe Stevenson's strikes from half guard in the first round of their elimination bout.
Fans sent in their questions for Davis. Here are the answers.
- Do you regret selecting Joe Stevenson as your opponent?
MD: That's the question I get asked the most, even from my family and friends. At the time, strategically for me, I think it was the right choice at the time and this is the reason why. I think that no matter what, we would have ended up meeting at some point. I would have rather it been on my terms where I felt as though at that time Joe wasn't training as hard as I was. I thought that rather than give him a chance to decide to pick me and train hard physically for me I'd take him by surprise by picking him as my first fight. I think I was going to have an edge that way. It was a choice that I had to make. Was I going to take Joe now when I feel pretty good about it or am I going to wait until later where I could possibly be injured and have to deal with it?
- If you could do it over again, would you still select Stevenson? Who would you select otherwise and why?
MD: I think that if I had to do it all over again, of course, it's in hindsight. Yeah, obviously if I could go back and pick someone that I know that I was able to beat I would have done that. This is the way I felt. I felt as though everybody else on the show I was going to beat, and everybody else knew that. Jorge Gurgel, who is a very good friend of mine, he even made this statement on the show: Marcus is the best stand-up fighter here. Then he said Joe Stevenson is the best ground fighter. I worked out with everybody else and nobody was taking me down, and I was literally picking guys apart standing up. That's why they had me spar with the heavyweights a lot.
- Did Marcus expect to be taken down at some point or did he expect to keep it standing?
MD: My plan was to feel Joe out a little bit and to slowly close the distance where I could start landing shots. I honestly thought that if I could just make it through the first round of Joe trying to take me down, Joe would be tired and then I could just start picking him apart. I thought that possibly Joe could get me to the ground and I worked mostly on leg defense because Joe tended to stick everybody by leg lock while we were all training on the show. Joe was just a phenomenal leg finisher. His leg locks are absolutely incredible.
- How much of an influence did your coach Rich Franklin have in your choice of Stevenson?
MD: Rich Franklin didn't think it was a wise choice. He thought I should choose somebody else. Dana White thought I should choose somebody else. My teammates even send maybe I should choose somebody else, but I made the choice on my own. It was completely on my own.
- Will Marcus fight on the TUF 2 season finale undercard or is he completely done fighting like he stated on the show?
MD: Nothing's been set yet if I'm going to be fighting on the finale. That is just as much a secret to me as it is to the fans. No, I'm not done [fighting]. I've had huge support to continue fighting from my family and friends, especially from the Internet. I have been just pelted with emails and threads on forums to continue my fighting endeavors and that's what I'm going to do. I'm gonna at least give it another year and continue to fight.
- From FCF: A lot of viewers may have been thinking 32 years of age is not too old of a number to stop fighting. Where did your urge to retire stem from?
MD: I think the difference is this. Randy Couture wrestled his whole life, than started doing mixed martial arts a few years ago. The difference is I've been in a full contact striking sport since age 14 and I'm 32 now. That's the difference. I think there's a huge difference from just grappling and wrestling affecting the body compared to fighting. I've had a total of 159 stitches just in me eye. I've had detached retinas. I've been through a lot. The reason why I was thinking of hanging it up was because I didn't want to be that fighter that can't seem to walk away from it. I didn't want to be that guy. You see it so much in boxing and I don't want to become that guy where people are saying, ‘Wow, it's sad to watch him do this.' Apparently, however, I'm not that kind of guy. People are saying they still want to see me fight. I will do another year and see where it goes from there.
- (From FCF) Have you been given any instructions regarding being ready for the finale?
MD: Yes. I was told that you never know if they're gonna exercise their rights on the contract and paperwork to be signed, so it it's best to stay in shape. I'm actually at the gym right now. I just got done training. Right now I'm training at my gym in Bangor at what I call the Institute of Science & Martial Arts. I will be leaving and training with Rich Franklin and Jorge Gurgel if I get notice of the fight.
- What made Marcus transition from pro boxing to MMA?
MD: I started boxing when I was 14. I did it till I was 28 or 29. It was one of those things I had done my whole life and I got bored. Honestly, I got bored and wanted to learn, so I turned to mixed martial arts. I started doing Muay Thai and the grappling and just fell in love with it. It was a new beginning. I have so much passion for this sport now. I love to train people and give them the knowledge I have and I enjoy learning new techniques from superior teachers in their martial arts.
- (From FCF) When did you make the transition from boxing to MMA?
MD: I started fooling around with grappling in 1995, but I wasn't serious about it. I was still contracted as a professional boxer, so my concentration was there. I did grapple two or three times a week though, but I didn't start to get serious until 1999. I had my first MMA fight in June of 2000.
- Now that all is said and done, would you do it all over again?
MD: Outside of the fact that on the show I got a staph infection that could have killed me, I was told while on the show that my best friend died while I was fighting, I ended up with an injury that's still healing [a shoulder clavicle sprain that came off Stevenson's takedown] ; other than that I'm walking away with an opportunity that I had that people just don't get, I made some real close friends and I would definitely do it all over again if I was given the opportunity. I want to thank my family and friends and my teammates for getting me into shape and getting me mentally ready for the show. [I'm] sorry that I let them down. I also really want to thank everyone on the Internet. I've just gotten mail after mail of positive reaction. Everybody has just been really kind to me and I appreciate that and I hope I get to showcase my real skills and get the chance to meet some of these people that have been emailing me. I'm looking forward to a future with the UFC.
To see Davis in action, go to www.irishhandgrenade.com
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