Bellator 192: Straight Outta Compton with all the hype...'and two fathers' Joey Davis  

He got it in college, where Davis competed in wrestling for Notre Dame College, Ohio. The kid from Compton put himself through school and became only the third undefeated NCAA wrestler over a four-year career ever and the first wrestler in the history of the NCAA Division II to end his entire career undefeated. 

It must have been great to finish his career with a 130-0 Division II record, I ask... "It was 133 matches...." he corrects me, of his record-breaking College wrestling run. Stats can lie, but someone's self belief at this stage does not.  

Asking him if he was always talented is redundant. He clearly was. And indeed, at several sports.   

"This is probably the biggest event - at The Forum - other than me winning my fourth national title. There will be nothing bigger than that ever because I made history," explained to Telegraph Sport the fighter who is 2-0 as a professional.  

"I'm a living legend in my sport, not in MMA. There are a lot of legends in MMA," he added. Not in a braggadocious way, but just stating it. Like it has re-enforced his psyche concretely, thousands of times.  

"Me winning my fourth title in Alabama will be the most memorable night for me. I became legendary. This is cool too. I get to perform in front of my friends and stuff like that. I'm happy and extremely blessed to have this opportunity. I live six minutes from the Forum. I can walk there. My dad lives in Inglewood and my mum lives in Compton. They're separated so I'm all f-----d up in the head."

 But really, yes, he says, he's "really excited" about fighting Butler at Bellator in the circular beacon for sport. 

"This dude (Butler) called me out. I don't know why he called me out but there's going to be some black on black crime and I'm about to put some blues on it. I'm from the same background this kid is. He picked the wrong one to deal with."

No-one, he says, has got to him. Evidently. Not on the mats. Nor on the streets, one suspects. 

But he loves the challenge of MMA, and is in a great group with McKee, his son Anthony, and Baby Slice, son of the late Kevin Ferguson.  

"Nobody ever got under my skin. It will take more than that to get under my skin. Even calling my momma a b---h won't make me mad. It's got to be a lot more than that. I just think he's a jealous person who wishes he could be me. But God put me here for a reason and I'm here to take what's mine.

"It's going to be a good fight. I'm happy for him, happy he had a good training camp. I'm happy he's getting in there with me and I can show to my fans what I can do. I'm happy."

Davis has an enigmatic outlook on his fighting life. "I'm just mad I've got to work this damn hard. I've got to do all this training and shit. That's what makes me mad. I want to be a typical kid and just have a normal life one day. I'm going to endure what I have to do now so when I can get older I can enjoy the life I want."

"Ain't nobody going to take that from me. Not a human being. I don't even like human beings that much. There's a lot of jealousy in this world and a lot of humans hate on you because they don't have what you have. I ain't never been a hater in my life. I work hard. All it takes is hard work and you can get what you want.'

As an athlete so talented, he tells me he has never rested on his laurels. But he's a jack-the-lad, too, and is a funny guy to talk with. "Look, hard work beats talent. I always worked hard, man. Hard work got me to where I am now. It's just hard to stay humble because people don't really know about my accolades and I've got a lot of haters out there. I could be a b---h but I ain't like that. I'm going to be humble because that's what God wants and I'm a God man."  

And a pretty hard man, too. But developing his skills, to pay his future bills, is the major pull, like the salmon muscling its way upstream against the current. 

"I work hard and I know hard work beats talent. I don't want to be that person who looks talented and then they gas out and look like they didn't put the work in. I didn't come all the way over here for that type of thing. I work really hard. That's why I've got the status I have. Nobody has done what I've done in the sport of wrestling. That's for sure."

"I don't have any injuries. I just do what my coach tells me to do. I don't even like fighting that much. I just do it for money and do it because I'm good at it."

There have been gaps in his career, now 2-0. "I had school. I'm still finishing school. Right now I'm taking online classes and I have to go back in August. You can't be a fighter for life. I'm trying to do something else. I'm a communications major."

Combining both a College Education and fighting professionally is rare in MMA. "I don't know too many people who do it," he says, enthusiastically.  "I think I'm the only one. I've got to do it because I'm young and I've got to do it while I'm young. I don't have a lot of time to waste."

But his role models drive, balance and help him. Girlfriend, fight team, father.  "I have a lot of help, I can tell you that. I have two father figures in my life and a tremendous girlfriend who do everything for me man. My girlfriend is amazing. Without her I would probably be struggling. A lot of men won't say that but women do a lot of stuff. Her name is Kathleen Molina."

I was with Davis in Dublin when he was checking in with Kathleen. Davis likes to communicate.  And the two fathers, ? "My dad, Joey Davis Sr, and Antonio McKee.My dad wrestled in college. He and Antonio wrestled together. But my dad is maybe five or six years older than him. They know each other really well. They went to the same college."

So, here's his philosophy. And it's working. "We don't have time to waste. You have a small opportunity in this world. That was the case with me going pro. I didn't have to go pro. I didn't have to do that. I used to want to be an NFL player, not a fighter. God does things you don't have control of. I'm still trying to figure that part out," he mused. 

"I had a small chance to turn pro and Antonio had the contract for me and said Bellator said they wanted to give me a shot because they believe in my talent as a blue chip prospect or something like that. They gave me the opportunity and I'm doing pretty well at it right now. I'm just going to take full advantage of it and make Bellator as happy as possible and give kids in the hood another outlook."

So being a role model is important. "I'm sure they see a lot of talented fighters and the most talented is from the hood. The talent is in the hard-working places. That's where it's at. I'm trying to do whatever I can to get there and for inner city kids to say man, I want to be like him one day. I never wanted to do none of this man. I just wanted to be a regular kid, go to college, have fun. But God has different plans man, different plans..."

Watch out for Joey Davis, if you haven't seen or heard him already. He's fascinating. It reminded me of talking to Jon Jones about eight years. Same attitude, same confidence. Looks like he's going somewhere...