Rick Story is making big waves in the UFC’s welterweight division.
There has been hype surrounding Story for a while now and at UFC 130 he proved he could back the hype up.
The young up-and-comer was considered an underdog going into his bout with perennial top five welterweight Thiago Alves. Not to be counted out, Story came out at UFC 130 and fought the fight of his life.
Rick came into the fight with an excellent game plan. Using a strategy similar to Jon Fitch’s when he fought Alves for the second time, the young contender pressed forward, pinned Alves up against the cage and took him down. He kept Alves off balance and gave him little space to get comfortable striking.
The strategy proved effective for the first two rounds and that was enough to earn Story the biggest victory in his young career.
Shortly after his victory of Thiago Alves, Rick was presented with the a huge, albeit risky opportunity.
Rick Story was offered the chance to fight Nate Marquardt in less than a month after his victory over Alves; an opportunity that could skyrocket him to the top of the welterweight division—or completely halt the momentum he established with his recent victory.
Story accepted the fight with Marquardt, replacing an injured Anthony Johnson.
What I’m wondering is whether or not this was an intelligent move for Rick.
One big advantage is that taking this fight will get him on Dana White‘s good side, for sure. It’s no secret that Dana loves fighters who will fight anyone at any time. In the UFC’s stacked welterweight division, with so many guys vying for a shot at the title, being in White’s good graces is definitely a good thing.
Another obvious advantage is that a victory over Nate Marquardt would put Rick Story no more than one win away from a title shot. He might even get the next title shot, just based on beating Nate. Beating Marquart would put Story on a seven fight win streak, with his past two victories coming over top contenders. It would be hard to argue that anyone else deserves the shot more.
Now, let’s enter the disadvantages to Story taking this fight.
He does not have enough time for a proper training camp. Nate is arguably more dangerous than any opponent Rick has faced and certainly the most experienced. Marquardt has faced some of the best in the world; he is not a man you want to face on short notice.
Many people are surprised that Story was even able to take this fight, given the beating he took against Alves in the third round. The fight with Marquardt is in less than a month and so Story would need to receive the minimum medical suspension in order to partake in the bout. So, there is a reasonable chance that Story will still be feeling some of the effects of his fight with Alves when he goes into his fight with Nate.
As far as how well these two match up, things don’t look good for Story. Marquardt has beat better strikers than Rick, as well as better submission specialists. Nate may not have defeated a better wrestler than Story, but he was able to mostly neutralize the wrestling of Yushin Okami at UFC 122. Based on that, it’s not a stretch to think that Rick will have a tough time getting this fight to the ground.
His best chance will likely be to push the pace against Marquardt and try to wear him out. This is Nate’s first time fighting at welterweight and there is a good chance he’ll have a tough time with the weight cut.
This is the biggest fight in Story’s career. He will either shoot up to the top of the welterweight division, or destroy the momentum he’s worked so hard to build up.
Has Rick Story bitten off more than he can chew? Tune into Versus on June 26th and find out.
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