I recently had the opportunity to conduct an exclusive interview with UFC welterweight Marcus Davis for Tapology. Among other topics, Davis discussed his training heading into his next fight--against Ben Saunders at UFC 106--the controversial decision loss to Dan Hardy last June and what he could have done differently in that fight, and some of the welterweight contenders he would like to fight in the future.

On training for Saunders:

Tapology: Let’s talk about your training in Boston. How is that going?

Davis: Training has been going great. It just so happens that my good friend Jorge Gurgel is in a training camp there too, so I have been getting a lot of time on the mat with him. The whole crew with Mark Delagrotte there 

giving me the plan for Ben Saunders and Kevin Kearns doing my conditioning has been great. Back home at Team Irish in Maine, I have been working on developing more speed and more explosive power.

Tapology: Do you think the main problems Saunders will pose for you will be the height and reach advantage?

Davis: I think the height and reach will be a huge advantage for him, so I’ve got to take that away. It’s no mystery that anytime I get in there to bang him up he’s going to grab my head and try to bang me up in the clinch, and he’s got great kicks. He is also fairly awkward, so it’s hard to get sparring partners to mimic a guy like Ben Saunders.

On Dan Hardy:

Tapology: What do you think you learned from the Dan Hardy fight, and how has it helped you to improve?

Davis: I would fight the fight completely different now. I was able to control the top game at the beginning of the fight, but I wouldn’t even do that the second time, I would just bite down on my mouthpiece and go into that fight more like a Chris Lytle does and look to take him out on the feet. We’ll see what happens with him and Swick, but in an ideal situation Swick beats him and sends him back my way so I can get that rematch. That’s what I would like to see happen.

On future opponents:

Davis: I have actually heard from pretty reputable people that if I win my next fight and Phil Baroni beats Amir Sadollah then that would be a fight the UFC would be interested in putting together. Obviously, if I had my choice and could pick anybody it would be Dan Hardy.

Tapology: Everyone talks about how dominant Georges St. Pierre has been in the welterweight division, but in order to get to the title you’re going to have to go through a lot of really tough guys, such as Koscheck, Alves, Fitch, and so on. Are there any guys in this division that you want to fight more than others?

Davis: All of those guys. I don’t think you really have a choice. All of those guys from AKA [American Kickboxing Academy] are all dangerous dudes—Fitch, Swick, Koscheck—and then Thiago Alves is a scary monster—he looks like he was created in a laboratory.

Be sure to read the full interview to get the full scoop on Davis's 2003 stand-up war with Thiago Alves, his thoughts on getting into the top five of the welterweight division, and more.