If Rick Story’s win over Thiago Alves at UFC 130 was not gutsy enough, he will now step in to take on Nate Marquardt with less than a month of rest time.
Despite UFC 130 taking place on May 30, MMAJunkie is reporting that Story has agreed to step back into the Octagon on June 26 at UFC on Versus 4.
While he is used to fighting regularly, Story fought four times in 2010, this is still a rarely seen move for any professional fighter.
Anthony “Rumble” Johnson was set to headline UFC on Versus 4 against Marquardt, but the oversized welterweight unfortunately suffered a should injury in training camp.
Story originally called out Jon Fitch, but Fitch said he was only interested in fighting “main eventers,” or either current or past champions.
That was not a big deal for Rick “The Horror” Story, responding by saying that he just wants to fight the best competition available in the division.
Nate Marquardt, a perennial middleweight contender, became available and Story stayed true to his word.
This will be “Nate the Great’s” first battle at 170 pounds, deciding to make the drop after a decisive win over Dan Miller at 185.
Marquardt noticed that his weight was a little lighter than usual during the training camp for that fight, and training partner Georges St-Pierre, the reigning welterweight champion, suggested that now may be a good time to consider a drop from 185 to 170.
The decision to drop a weight class was made quickly, as Marquardt defeated Miller fairly recently in March of this year.
Marquardt was always recognized as a larger middleweight, so it will be interesting to see how he is able to perform at 170 pounds.
As for Rumble, this is his third UFC fight in three years that he has had to pull out of due to injury. This one is particularly unfortunate since it would have been Johnson’s first main event fight.
No word on how soon Johnson will be able to return to action.
UFC on Versus 4 takes place at the Consol Energy Center in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
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