World ISKA K1 RULES PRO TITLE - DUBLIN - Marcus DAVIS v Mark Casserly

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Fighter Interview

Mark Casserly-
Please tell us your initial reaction when you were asked to fight Marcus Davis. How long did it take for you to make a decision?
I was very excited at the opportunity of fighting Marcus, he is a good fighter and this is going to be a big show, it was an easy decision to make.

How are you preparing for this fight? Normally you would have video's on a fighter or know a fighters style but this being Marcus's first K1 fight it would be a bit hard to know what to expect.
K1's origins stem from muay thai , the transition for me is easy enough, for Marcus I don't think it will be enough of an issue for him to have to change his style. In saying that k1 is very unpredictable and fighters styles can change to meet the demands of the match. Versatility is the key.

Would you consider this to be the biggest profile fight of your career? And what do hope would come from it should you win.
On a commercial level Marcus is the highest profile fighter however spending time in Korea and Iran I have fought quite a few world and Olympic champions whom on home soil are legends in their own right.

Without giving away too much, how do you see this fight going?
No comment.

Do you see Marcus as a dangerous opponent or do you think the switch from MMA to K1 to be too much for him?
The switch from MMA to K1 for Marcus I would imagine to be an easy enough one. He is a natural striker and I would imagine feels very comfortable standing, the dangerous part would be to underestimate this transition. Every fighter is dangerous, unbeatable fighters only exist in movies.

Would you ever consider doing what Marcus has done and switch sport by going over to MMA?
My priorities are channeled in a different direction than competing in Mma, however I am a fan of the UFC .The core difference between me an Marcus making transitions is that I would essentially have to drastically upscale in jiujutsu where as Marcus needs no extra skills to compete in K1. Again it comes down to my goals and priorities and for now I have particular goals I must achieve by the end of my career.

Marcus Davis-
So Marcus, what is it like to be finally back fighting on Irish soil? Tell us how it felt when you got offered the fight.
I was very excited. I immediately called my people and had them gathering information on my opponent. Once I saw how good Mark was I get even more excited. I love Ireland and the people who live here so to have this opportunity once again is a big deal to me.

Do you think you have an advantage? In terms of preparation being this one of your first K1 fights and the fact that there is so much tape on him, you know his style but he does not know what to expect from you.
Well I've had 7 K1 fights, but there's no video on the net about them. I had 20 professional boxing matches and there's only a bit of that video around. Now there's lots of MMA but I don't fight like I do in MMA when I box, kick box or K1 fight because they are all different. So that is irrelevant to even watch. After all the DVD, Internet and local video I've got in Ireland I'm aware of the places Mark is dangerous. I plan to make this a absolute nasty dog fight.

Some people think Mark is the underdog due to the fact of your successful career in the UFC and some people see you as the underdog due to this is your first K1 fight and Marks experience. Which side of the fence do you agree more with?
I think we are both skilled in what we do. He's a better kicker I'm a better puncher. He's going to want to control the pace of the fight I'm going to want to make it a nasty brawl. I don't think either of us are underdogs I think we are evenly matched on different sides of the spectrum.

You train back home with Mark DellaGrotte at Sityyodtong for the past number of years for MMA fights. With Mark (DellaGrotte) being one of the best in the business at Muay Thai, did you train with him in preparation for this fight?
I traveled to Sityodtong in March then I flew to Ohio to train with Jorge Gurgels guys and Rich Franklin then back home to my team for final preparation. I am very well prepared.

Without giving away too much, how do you see this fight going?
This will be a fight decided on who is able to control the fight. With that said I believe I will stop him with in 3 rounds.

Should you win the fight and thus the title belt will you stay in the sport and defend your title?
Absolutely. I will juggle my MMA career with K1. Just knowing I will come back here is a huge incentive to me.

Best of luck to both fighters! Make sure you do not miss out on what is sure to be an amazing event!

No doubt it will probably be an exciting fight but how do you get to fight for a 'World' title with so few k1 bouts under the belt? Do we just skip rankings and kickboxing/k1 experience nowadays and just count any form of combat as worthy?
I know the proper K1 events had inexperienced fighters in the early days but that was part of a tournament and it's since changed it's format.

I agree with actionpromo's. Marcus Davis as far as i know has never fought kickboxing disciplines. How the hell does he qualify for a World title shot. Don't know much about Casserly, but would be interesting to see what his CV is like.

Isn't this weight a bit heavy for Casserly? I thought he fought at 77? Would like to see Andrew Tate fight the winner.

Be good if ISKA could give an answer as to how they feel Marcus Davis should overstep other worthy title challengers.

Casserly is more than worthy of fighting for this title I think this is a good match up
Good luck with the show

Davis said he has had 7 K1 fights and because of his MMA status, will probably be of a high level. So he may be worthy!

I think they are both worthy

For once it would be nice to see people that use this forum to give some positive feed back, It always seem to be negative comments on here. The promoter for this event has put a lot of hard work putting this event on, it would be nice to get some credit know and then. Both these fighter are worthy of this fight. This will be a 50/50 fight i wouldn't like to pick a winner Good luck to all the fighter taken part in this massive event.

Credit where due, i'd imagine it being an exciting fight and also a good crowd puller. And yeah good on the promoter for getting a big name on the show. Well done. I was merely asking 'how' someone with only 7 k1 bouts is worthy of a 'world' title, that's all. I think it's a valid point.

It depends on who he fought in the 7 k1 fights

Which leads me to my next Q... Ah never mind...
Look forward to seeing who wins.

Going to be an interesting fight.mark is fighting well above is normal weight,i meet marcus last week really sound guy huge man id say he will enter ring on sunday well above the 90kg mark.

After Sunday the title will be there for any challengers.

LIghtouts

how are you, just to fill you in


Mark casserly is the IMC champ at 76.4kg

UKMF Anglo Irish Champ at 76.4kg

WAKO Anglo irish Champ at 78kg

and has fought and beat most of it not all the top ranked guys in the UK, all IN muay thai I should add.

The fight on Sunday is simply a fight we could not refuse, its not Muay Thai, which is all I want my lads to fight, but its not every day you get to fight a UFC lad 5 mins from your house, so we had to say yes.

There have been a few hic ups on the way, and fingers corssed if mark can pull it out of the bag he will defend against anyone thats looking it


thanks and best of luck to the two lads and thanks to Jag and Chris for the fight offer

Paddy

www.chupasart.com

Mark is also the iska four nations champion aswell
Quality fighter
Good luck

Thanks for that Paddy.

Best of luck to Mark, No reason why he cannot do well against Davis. I was only curious as to why ISKA decided Davis should go straight in at Pro World Championship level as an MMA / Boxing practitioner.

going of the subject,need a 39/40kg 12yr for a british title on our june show want someone from ireland do you no anyone chris,and wheres our dvd from your last show lol

Someone from Ireland for a British Title?
Northern Ireland maybe - if they have a British passport!

Seen irish mma guys fight for and win british titles before.

A pro irish boxer can fight for a british title,once he has a licence with the british boxing board.

could be a 5 nations as the others are,goodluck to aslan.

Thanks Johnny,

Aslans opponant Khalid is said to be a KO merchant as well so id say this going to be war from the start. Aslan likes it that way :-)
See you at the Dublin Thaiboxing show, some nice fights on that one too.

Best of luck to my boy Shane O Neill on this aswell

Public weigh picture Marcus Davis v Mark Casserly massive turn out just for the weigh in.

Marcus Davis is huge for the weight!

Great pics - should be a great event.

Sorry DTB - unless an Irish fighter has a British passport he shouldn't fight for a British Title (4 Nations/5 Nations yes).
Just like a British fighter couldn't fight for an Irish Title unless they held an Irish passport.

The biggest mystery here is why this thread didn't mention either fighter's name - both are big enough to pull in more eyes to the thread...

Good luck shane o Neil..

Mark casserly wins first round head kick....sick ko i hope marcus is alright.

Up on YouTube now..sick ko alright

Dean...if the schedule allows Tate will fight any of these two of course :-)

Congrats to the Winner!!

Fantastic KO by Mark , well done and fair play , Great fighter , always cool ... Aslan's head kick Ko was as impressive ...Congrats to both with their new belts

Nice kick ko, just seen it on YT

Thanks Jag


I like the last photo the best :)

Casserly is quality! Only seen him fight once over here when he took on Alan Sayer from Lumpini Crawley but he was mustard. Got an awesome style and great balance and technique, hope he gets back over to the UK to fight soon, would be great to see on the O2 show? ;)

is aslan on you tube cant find a fight of his anywhere,and wheres my bloody dvd lol

Aslans fights don't last long enough for people to bother recording them ;)