Coming into their UFC 118 encounter, many predicted that the battle between Marcus Davis and Nate Diaz would take home fight of the night. And boy, oh boy, did that crowd go crazy for Davis, a fellow New Englander, as he made his walk to the cage.
Davis connected with a left early on as Diaz taunted him. Diaz then connected with a jab and a left. Perhaps Davis didn't like the taunting, as he came forward with a hard left-right combination that left Diaz on the canvas, eating punches for a moment while there. But Diaz then got to his feet, and it became apparent that a slicing Diaz punch had cut his adversary somewhere in there. After some exchanges from both fighters that mostly grazed, Davis connected with a hard left hand. Though Davis followed that up with some more proficient striking, following a clinch, Diaz connected with multiple punches. Then Davis shirked a takedown but took a right hand for his efforts. For the rest of the round, Diaz began using his reach effectively, connecting on Davis multiple times. That said, the harder shots, even if they were fewer, were usually landed by Davis. Then the bell.
The cut over his right eye, plus Diaz's reach really did Davis in at the end of the that stanza. Give Diaz the round.
Early in the second, Davis landed a combination. The two then exchanged punches. Moments later, Diaz shot in looking for the takedown, but Davis fought it off. Davis then landed a big left hand. Diaz connected with several punches from a distance in his pitter-patter style. And basically, that's what the fighter from California did for the majority of the rest of the round, bloodying his opponent significantly. Though Davis did connect with some nice low kicks and took Diaz down at the tail end of the stanza, Diaz turned him over at the bell.
In other words, it's 2-0 Diaz. Davis needs a stoppage in order to win. His eye looks absolutely atrocious due to the cut he sustained in round one. Puffy and bleeding badly.
Diaz took over with his stand up immediately in round three. And that's how things went until there was less than two minutes left in the bout, when Diaz took Davis down. Diaz then sunk in a choke that Davis refused to tap from. In other words, he went to sleep.
Nate Diaz defeats Marcus Davis by technical submission (guillotine choke) at 4:02 of round three in a very good fight. Diaz looks excellent at 170 pounds.
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