He'll be fighting Marcus "The Irish Hand Grenade" Davis this Saturday at UFC 80, but did you know part of his pre-fight preparation included time spent at Team Quest? Notable quote:
Liaudin is confident that he's ready to take that next step in the UFC. "I think he's a great fight for me. He's just a very good opponent; he's good all-around. He beats very good, very solid opponents. I can be a hard task for him."
Nothing spectacular to report here, but this does thicken the plot line between he and Davis. Liaudin has been on a bit of a win streak himself. One hopes Davis has taken this bout very seriously.
Update [2008-1-14 10:25:17 by Luke Thomas]:: And here's how he plans to defeat Marcus Davis:
"He's a good boxer and he fights like a boxer," Liaudin said. "The thing is he trains with a very good striking coach (Mark DellaGrotte), and he's probably been looking at my fights and thinking about what he should and shouldn't do to counter me as well. Because you can be the best striker in the world, [but] everyone's got some holes in their game and makes mistakes. "This time I'm going to try and use my kicks. He's a lot bigger than me and he's going to use his heavy hands and his power. I'm not going to try and knock him out; I'm going to try and break down him, bit by bit -- that's my game plan. I'm going to adapt my game to his so I can beat him."
Update [2008-1-14 11:39:50 by Nick Thomas]: And here's Marcus Davis talking about his game plan:
"I’m always gonna go out and take the chances and the risks and throw the bombs.
"He likes to knock people out and so do I. Someone is getting knocked out – probably in the first round – at UFC 80."