Things were going rather well in the career of Garett Davis when he submitted Shannon “The Cannon” Ritch at King of the Cage Canada’s “Widowmaker” event in June, 2006. Not only did the win add another high profile victory to the resume of Davis, but it was the Vancouver fighter’s sixth straight at the time; more and more Canadian MMA observers were taking notice of his career. Unfortunately for Davis, the veteran fighter has gone 3-4 since, making his upcoming bout with Ritch that much more important.

“It’s kind of a scary bout for me,” said Davis recently, who will face Ritch for a second time at KOTC Canada’s May 28th “Combustion” event in Edmonton, Alberta. “As far as “The Cannon’s” concerned the guy has as much experience as anybody; even though he has a lot of losses he still has over 50 wins you know? He’s been in there with pretty much anybody and is capable of taking anybody out in the first round.”

“I’m hoping to climb back up the ladder at King of the Cage,” Davis added. “I want to get a title fight and keep on trucking. My ultimate goal is to make it to the UFC, and at 33, I don’t have like 20 years left in my career. I need to get as much done in my career as quickly as possible so I want to get another winning streak going again. I know in Canadian MMA circles it’s like I dropped off the face of the earth so I want to climb back to the top.”

Davis mentioned Ritch’s ability to “take anybody out in the first round,” and the jiu-jitsu black belt demonstrated that yet again at KOTC Canada’s “Nailbiter” event in January, when he tapped out veteran Elmer Waterhen with a first round toe hold.

“He has over 150 fights and everyone has ended in the first round except for two I think,” said Davis about Ritch. “When we fought in 2006 he actually got me with a heel hook; I just refused to tap, he actually broke my foot but I managed to fight out of it. He’s got those heel hooks that just come out of nowhere. I saw in one of his recent fights he won by what they’re calling a “super kick” in like 15 seconds. He’s dangerous.”

Davis demonstrated recently that he also remains a considerable threat in the cage; after not competing for approximately 18 months Davis returned to action at KOTC Canada’s “Uprising” card in March, and stopped Nolan Clark in the first round.

“When I stepped in with Andrew Buckland at the end of 2008 I got caught early with one punch and he knocked me out. It definitely sent me to a pretty bad place in my head,” said Davis while recalling the three fight losing streak that led to a year plus absence from fighting. “I just needed to step away from the game for a bit. In 2004 I lost three fights and decided to take a break. When I got back I went on a three year winning streak.”

“So basically last year I got back in to shape and went down to Vegas to compete in the Grappler’s Quest,” Davis added. “I ended up getting silver medal in the advanced division so I felt good. John Cooper from King of the Cage sent me an email asking if I was ready to fight and I said yes. Now I’m back at it.”

Despite having fought only once since October, 2008, Davis believes he is a much more, well rounded fighter now.

“Even though I wasn’t fighting I was still training,” said Davis. “I’ve just been working on my weaknesses for the last year, my wrestling and striking, my jiu-jitsu has improved. I felt good in 2008 but I feel great in 2010.”