Dan Hardy Talks About Marcus Davis and Psychological Warfare

The fight between Dan Hardy and Marcus Davis seemed to reach a fever pitch when the two squared off at UFC 99 last year, but the war of words didn't end there.

Prior to the fight, Hardy did everything in his power to rile up the Irishman, and he accomplished his goal. A Photoshop contest amongst fans, and some well placed trash talk, brought Davis to a frenzy before their fight ever happened.

Right after the fight, Hardy admitted that it was all part of a strategy to get into Davis' head and earn a shot at the Maine based fighter. Still even though the fight seemed over, Davis fired back just weeks ago via his Twitter account stating, "I hope Dan Hardy dies of AIDS."

The comment was eventually deleted, but Hardy says that Davis obviously didn't know when enough was enough.

"Some people can't see it for what it is. Obviously with Marcus Davis making a comment like that it obviously proves he can't deal with the situation, and he doesn't get it," Hardy commented recently when appearing on MMAWeekly Radio.

"Apparently the Photoshops that I helped create were completely unacceptable, yet he makes a comment like that (and) it's okay? I don't understand where his logic lies."

Hardy admits that psychological warfare goes a long way, and he's become a master of that particular trade.

"Any time you can use any psychological warfare, it's different for every fighter," Hardy said. "The Marcus Davis fight was a blatant, outright, I'm going to punk him, I'm going to make him look stupid, and you're going to get crazy and lose your mind.

"Mike Swick was a little bit more fun, a little bit more jokey, but when it got to the end of the build up of the fight, he'd been expecting me to say all kinds of stuff that he didn't know really how to deal with it. He didn't know how to prepare himself for what was to come."

Hardy's teammate, Paul Daley, has started a similar campaign for his upcoming UFC 113 fight against Josh Koscheck. Daley encouraged fans to Photoshop a new haircut for Koscheck ahead of their fight, and when Hardy was asked if he would possibly put the best photo on his walkout t-shirt for UFC 113?

"Don’t give him any ideas, you know he will," Hardy responded.

Dana White Promises No Cuts Following UFC 108

UFC 108 was a card that took more hits than Tiger Woods' sponsorship deals, but in the end the fighters all came out to perform and put on one of the most enjoyable shows to kick off 2010.

Matchmaker, Joe Silva, burned up a ton of minutes on his cell phone calling fighter after fighter to replace others who were forced off of the card due to injuries, cuts, and other various problems.

A night of exciting finishes brought about the usual fight bonuses, with one of them handed to Paul Daley for knockout of the night. A reporter asked White, who withheld giving a bonus to Anthony Johnson following his knockout of Yoshiyuki Yoshida because he missed weight, why he gave Daley a bonus, who also missed his weight just a day earlier.

"There is no guy on this card that will be penalized tonight," White said. "Nobody's going to be cut tonight, nothing's going to happen to anybody tonight. Everybody's going to make money tonight and leave here happy as hell."

Good news for short notice fighters like Duane "Bang" Ludwig and Dustin Hazelett who helped push the show to the finish line in the final weeks. It looks like there won't be any stories about who is looking for a job post UFC 108.

Even UFC heavyweight, Shane Carwin, sent out a reminder to fans that oh so long ago, he was actually supposed to compete at UFC 108.

"I am supposed to be making weight right now for my fight with Lesnar. What a difference a year makes," Carwin commented via his Twitter page.

Jake Shields says, "I had my own Nate Diaz moment" with Paul Daley

Before Jake Shields and Paul Daley went to battle last Saturday night, the two welterweights almost came to blows after they weighed in according the EliteXC champion during a recent appearance on MMAWeekly Radio.

Shields said the two fighters were squaring off following the weigh-ins and Daley kept saying "I'm going to knock you out" and eventually the two ended up with a pushing and shoving match in front of the media and crowd in attendance.

Shortly after the ruckus on stage, members of the media noted that the curtains behind the main staging area were flying and noise could be heard from the back.

Sure enough, Shields and Daley were going after each other, trying to get their fight going a day early.

According to Shields the fighters were never able to actually get at one another, but the California native says that a few water bottles were thrown between the two and although his teammate, Nate Diaz (who has water bottle chucking experience) wasn't there, he held his own and now has his "water bottle" story.

Another interesting note from the actual fight is that Shields says Daley was attempting to eye gouge him during takedown attempts.

Shields explained that Daley put his finger in his eye when he was shooting in for a takedown and that the referee issued a warning for the initial offense, but Daley committed the foul a second time during the bout.

In the end the champ suffered only a severe case of red-eye, but a dangerous foul nonetheless.