UFC 118: Boston Showdown, Nate Diaz Vs. Marcus Davis Prediction

Since the days of colonial history, when "Baked Beans 'n Molasses" was a favorite food of the predominantly Irish descendants of Boston, the city has been known as "Beantown."RVCA BJ Penn Team Aloha 118 Tee (Large, Black)




Being from Nova Scotia, Canada—which is also situated on the East Coast, and also only a relatively short distance, by boat, from Boston—we "Maritimers" are also predominantly Celtic descendants, and so quite naturally, we also share the Bostonian love affair with "home cooked" beans, flooded in a molasses based sauce.



On August 28, "Beantown" will makes its premier voyage into the sport of Mixed Martial Arts when the city hosts the 118th showing of the Ultimate Fighting Championships, the worlds biggest, and arguably best, MMA/cagefighting exhibition.
UFC 118: Edgar v. Penn


UFC 118 will also feature Nate Diaz, who is one half of the notorious fighting Diaz brothers.



In what is sure to become a stand-up, gun-slinging affair, Nate—who is the younger, and UFC employed brother of Strikeforce fight promotions elite 170 champion fighter Nick Diaz—will be mixing it up on the under-card with former pro boxer Marcus Davis.



Davis is coming off a UFC 113 win over recently exiled french Canadian sub par fighter Jonathan Goulet; however, it is worth mentioning that before the win, Davis was on a catastrophic down hill slide. He had lost 3 of his last five to Mike Swick, Dan Hardy, and was literally clobbered by reality show fighter Ben Saunders, resulting in a broken nose and a six month medical suspension.



Diaz, on the other hand—although coming off a narrow decision loss to top 155 contender Gray Maynard—has packed up his arsenal of weapons from the UFC lightweight division and shifted to "higher ground" so to speak.RVCA BJ Penn Hana Hou 118 Tee (Small, White)



Now fighting at the contentious UFC welterweight division, the 25 yr. old Diaz last fought at an even higher "catch-weight" of 177 pounds and knocked out the much heavier Rory Markman—who would have been close to the 185 middleweight limit on fight night——in the very first round.



Generally, when holding an event in a new city, the UFC are frequently prone to "loading-up" their event cards with as many locally born fighters as possible, this card will be no different, as Davis, who goes by the nickname of "The Irish Hand Grenade" is a native of the neighboring state of Maine.



My opinion here, for what it's worth, is that even though Davis is a former pro boxer, and certainly a powerful slugger, the guy has very poor defense ability, and therefore, he takes a tremendous amount of unnecessary punishment.



My prediction is that Diaz, with his mixture of long accurate jabs from the outside, unorthodox southpaw stance, and great boxing defense, will be too potent a cocktail for "The Irish Hand-Grenade" Davis.



The end result, in my view, will either be a Diaz win by early referee stoppage, or a hard fought third round UD, also in favor of Diaz.