UFC 99: Dan Hardy's Mouth Creating Huge Hype, Marcus Davis Tries to Subdue Emotions

Following UFC 95, Dan Hardy seemed to have one thing on his mind. Instead of talking about his knockout victory over Rory Markham in detail during the post-fight press conference, Hardy decided to take the opportunity to help Joe Silva create a matchup that has now reached new heights in bad blood. Hardy called out Marcus Davis due to the fact that Davis has managed to win four of his last five bouts on British soil while defeating 3 British fighters in Jason Tan, Paul Taylor, and Paul Kelly.

The shots didn't end with Hardy simply calling out Davis. Hardy went on to state that Davis was a "fake Irishman", a "plastic Paddy", and had fans photoshop photos of Davis to suggest he was a homosexual. Davis began to become overly angry by the childish tactics that Hardy had used:

"He got me to jump in and start camp early. … I jumped in and I was brutally beating everybody I was sparring with into a pulp," Davis said. "I was watching videos of Dan Hardy, I was looking at his picture, literally, in my office, and then running out to my cage [to train]."

Said trainer Mark DellaGrotte of Davis: "He was out of control.

"I was telling him, 'Hey, listen man, don't let this little kid's tricks work.' He said, 'What do you mean?' I said, 'You're coming in, you're all worked up. Don't make mistakes, don't fight emotionally. You have a lot of experience, you know better than that.' And kind of reminded him [to think], 'Hey, this kid is pissing me off, but I can't fight reckless, I can't fight stupid.'"

Interestingly enough, Hardy felt that this was a sign that his tactics were working. Davis has been known as a fighter who wears his emotions on his sleeve, and the general consensus among fans is that Davis won't be able to come into this matchup and fight angrily. Hardy's technical prowess in the striking department could very well capitalize on Davis' anger. Davis insists that he will fight intelligently when it comes fight time:

"I'm going to fight this fight intelligently. I'm not going to fight it with, like, blind rage. And any time I've ever fought before and I've fought someone that I didn't like, I've dealt with them quickly. So that's the same plan. I'm going to get rid of him quickly, but I'm going to do it efficiently. But I'm going to try to beat him in every facet of the game."

Davis will come into this fight with a solid boxing skillset, good speed, and the ability to move in and out of danger rapidly to avoid Hardy's shots. I'd be surprised if we didn't see a gameplan similar to that of which he implemented against Chris Lytle at UFC 93.

Hardy definitely has the edge in tools to win. He has technically sound striking in terms of using timing and big shots to knockout opponents, solid ground skills, and some submission abilities. He is also pretty versatile on the floor in escaping bad positions. In this matchup, it's going to be a question of whether Hardy can use speed and timing to catch Davis as he moves in to damage Hardy.

This should be a great fight with all the hype surrounding both fighters. The bad blood boiling between the two fighters has definitely affected Davis, so it'll be interesting to see if his emotions take over. If he becomes way more aggressive than usual, Hardy could take advantage of tactical mistakes in his striking skills and end the bout quickly. Another great fight on a card full of solid matchups.

Check out the rest of our UFC 99: The Comeback coverage