14 Questions for Marcus Davis

Sherdog.com: That's good to hear. Which MMA fighter do you train with that can stand with you in pure boxing?

Davis: In true boxing? I don’t know, I don't. It's hard just to box with MMA fighters. … Once you [include kicks], it makes everything different. The kick changes the range of it. Then you're reaching to try and catch people when they are kicking and stuff. But straight-up boxing, it's two different sports. We actually just did this [last week]. There's a guy that trains here that was like, "You know what? I really want to box with a professional boxer. I've never done it before."

Mark DellaGrotte was like, "Yeah? You can do it with Marcus tonight." When we were all done, we got in the ring and I went back to kind of -- it actually all fell back into place. I just started in my boxing stance, which is totally different, moving my head and positioning my hands totally different and totally pitter-pattered the s--t out of this kid. I wouldn't let him touch me. I kept moving, cutting angles all over the place. It's just not the same sport, not even close.

Sherdog.com: Who do you think is a good boxer in MMA, aside from yourself?

Davis: There's a lot of guys that have decent boxing skills. Joe Riggs has decent boxing skills. That kid, I saw him fight the other day. I can't believe I don't remember his name. The kid fought Jake Shields.

Sherdog.com: Paul Daley.

Davis: Yeah, Paul Daley. He has decent hands too. Obviously Jens Pulver has really good control in his hands too. People talk about [Takanori] Gomi, but Gomi doesn't have good boxing skills. He's not a boxer. He's just a real good MMA fist fighter. But he doesn't have true boxing skills.

I think people get confused about that. They're not the same thing. I've met guys -- I'm not gonna say names -- I've sparred with guys or boxed with guys that are MMA guys that everybody's said, "Their boxing is unbelievable." … And I've gone and worked out with these guys, and it's not. It's just not the same sport. Now, if we did MMA, yeah, the guys are gonna be doing way better with me than they would in straight boxing. Like I said, you can't compare chess to lawn darts or tiddlywinks to checkers. It's not the same game.

Sherdog.com: Losing to Mike Swick was your first loss in a long time. How hard has it been dealing with that?

Davis: It hasn't been difficult at all. Actually, if anything, it's motivated me and it's made me look at how much better I have become. I went into that fight with an injury, knowing in my head -- I doubted myself because of the injury. It kind of put me into some kind of weird survival mode because I knew I wouldn't be able to get off the ground. I threw him right in the beginning of the fight, and it really jacked up my shoulder and it made me not want to do that anymore. … In the first round he passed my guard once, and he never did it again. He kept trying to pass it and he couldn't do it again.

Mike Swick was a guy that was ranked at 185 pounds at one point with wins over guys like Joe Riggs and David Loiseau, guys up there that were pretty tough. And for him to not be able to stop me or submit me like everyone thought he was going to submit me on the ground, in the state that I was in, it totally made me reevaluate exactly how far I've come in this game. I knew I was obviously improved a lot, but now with this camp it's really come out of me. In this camp, I've showed a lot of depth in my game.

Sherdog.com: The UFC is going to Dublin in January. Is it going to be too close or do you think you'll make it on that card?

Davis: I've done nothing but harass [the UFC]. They'll probably get a restraining order on me from phone calls. I even said if I have to fight Brock Lesnar that night, put me on the card. I want to fight in Ireland. They gotta do it. There's no way they're not gonna let me fight on that card. I just got to dispatch of this kid quick. Get in, get out, no injuries.

Sherdog.com: What’s your prediction for this fight with Paul Kelly?

Davis: My prediction for this fight is I'm probably knocking him out in the first round. I think toward the end of the round, he's gonna start reaching and getting desperate because he's not gonna get my timing down and I'm gonna be on the outside picking away at him, and I'll catch him that way.