Tag: Nate Marquardt

‘Strikeforce: Marquardt vs. Saffiedine’ Salaries: Josh Barnett Makes 250k The Really, Really, Easy Way


(“OK, Josh, now act like this Nandor fellow was somehow able to land a punch on you. We’ll use it for the gag reel.”)

The Oklahoma Athletic Commission recently released the payout figures for Strikeforce: Marquardt vs. Saffiedine, and wouldn’t you know it, Heavyweight Grand Prix runner-up Josh Barnett was able to walk away with nearly a quarter of the total disclosed $1,153,500 payroll for less than three minutes of work. Also of note, Tarec Saffiedine collected approximately $2.50 for each kick he was able to land on Nate Marquardt, yet still wound up a grand shy of, you guessed it, Frank Stallone Nate Marquardt when all was said and done. Speaking of Marquardt, dude somehow didn’t even get a precautionary suspension despite exiting the arena on crutches with a leg that looked like it had stared at the Ark of the Covenant. We were able to secure an exclusive interview with his doctor earlier today, who smugly stated that “Leg kicks certainly do not end lives” before throwing a smoke bomb and disappearing from the room. A strange man indeed.

Anyway, check out the full list of salaries along with our thoughts after the jump. Per usual, these figures are absent of any locker room bonuses, sponsorship bonuses, or invitations to Scott Coker’s BBQ bash this weekend that any of the fighters may have received.

Tarec Saffiedine: $39,000 ($19,500 win bonus)
def. Nate Marquardt: $40,000

Daniel Cormier: $120,000 ($60,000 win bonus)
def. Dion Staring: $8,000


(“OK, Josh, now act like this Nandor fellow was somehow able to land a punch on you. We’ll use it for the gag reel.”)

The Oklahoma Athletic Commission recently released the payout figures for Strikeforce: Marquardt vs. Saffiedine, and wouldn’t you know it, Heavyweight Grand Prix runner-up Josh Barnett was able to walk away with nearly a quarter of the total disclosed $1,153,500 payroll for less than three minutes of work. Also of note, Tarec Saffiedine collected approximately $2.50 for each kick he was able to land on Nate Marquardt, yet still wound up a grand shy of, you guessed it, Frank Stallone Nate Marquardt when all was said and done. Speaking of Marquardt, dude somehow didn’t even get a precautionary suspension despite exiting the arena on crutches with a leg that looked like it had stared at the Ark of the Covenant. We were able to secure an exclusive interview with his doctor earlier today, who smugly stated that “Leg kicks certainly do not end lives” before throwing a smoke bomb and disappearing from the room. A strange man indeed.

Anyway, check out the full list of salaries along with our thoughts after the jump. Per usual, these figures are absent of any locker room bonuses, sponsorship bonuses, or invitations to Scott Coker’s BBQ bash this weekend that any of the fighters may have received.

Tarec Saffiedine: $39,000 ($19,500 win bonus)
def. Nate Marquardt: $40,000

Daniel Cormier: $120,000 ($60,000 win bonus)
def. Dion Staring: $8,000

Josh Barnett: $250,000 (no win bonus)
def. Nandor Guelmino: $12,000

Gegard Mousasi: $175,000 (no win bonus)
def. Mike Kyle: $25,000

Ronaldo Souza: $100,500 ($28,000 win bonus)
def. Ed Herman: $34,000

Ryan Couture: $22,000 ($7,000 win bonus)
def. KJ Noons: $41,000

Tim Kennedy: $80,000 ($25,000 win bonus)
def. Trevor Smith: $8,000

Pat Healy: $42,000 ($15,000 win bonus)
def. Kurt Holobaugh: $9,000

Roger Gracie: $94,000 ($47,000 win bonus)
def. Anthony Smith: $10,000

Adriano Martins: $16,000 ($8,000 win bonus)
def. Jorge Gurgel: $10,000

Estevan Payan: $12,000 ($6,000 win bonus)
def. Michael Bravo: $6,000

Before we get started, we’d like to commend Josh Barnett for battling through an illness that forced him to delay his fight week plans. The man is truly a fighter’s fighter and should be compensated as such. That said, damn. We’re not saying he’s overpaid, we’d just like to know why at a quarter million to show, Strikeforce would be happy throwing Barnett little more than a scary-looking training dummy for his final fight in the promotion. For that kind of money, you’d think they’d at least try and book a fight that didn’t resemble the beginning of a training montage. Seriously, swap Nandor with Sly Stallone and Barnett with Carl Weathers and that fight was basically the scene where Rocky gets dusted by Apollo Creed in a dead sprint on the beach. You know, before Adrian does her typical “What are you afraid of?! Death?! You should be, because HE’LL KILL YA ROCK!” thing and Rocky finds the inner courage to engage in homosexual water-splashing with Apollo or whatever.

Overpaid: According to Keith Kizer, the average MMA judge makes between $200 and $1,000 on a given night, depending on how big the show is, of course. I submit that the judges responsible for scoring the KJ Noons/Ryan Couture fight should not only be forced to turn over that money to the state, but should be ostracized from the MMA community entirely, possibly after a tar-and-feathering ceremony. When I worked at McDonald’s as a teenager, I only took home around $300 a week. I may not have been the perfect employee, but I could always tell the difference between a Filet-o-Fish and a hamburger. Clearly, two of those judges lacked this necessary discriminatory skill, and their ignorance should be eradicated before it infects the state of MMA judging any worse.

Underpaid: You think Strikeforce would have thrown Dion Starling a little more cash for accepting what was pretty much a death sentence on short notice. Looks like the poor bastard will have to continue cutting his own hair in the dark of his long since condemned apartment for the foreseeable future.

–J. Jones

Strikeforce Results: 5 Fights for Nate Marquardt in the UFC

Anything can happen in the world of mixed martial arts. Submission fighters can score major knockouts, judges can turn in scorecards that don’t remotely reflect the action inside of the cage, and 4-to-1 underdogs can absolutely dominate a well-known wo…

Anything can happen in the world of mixed martial arts. Submission fighters can score major knockouts, judges can turn in scorecards that don’t remotely reflect the action inside of the cage, and 4-to-1 underdogs can absolutely dominate a well-known world champion in the swan song of a dying promotion.

On Saturday night, Nate Marquardt saw his momentum train crash into a steel barrier as little-known Tarec Saffiedine scored a monumental upset (and more than 100 significant strikes) in the Strikeforce main event.

Where does this leave the former champion and 14-time UFC veteran? Clearly, Marquardt is a big enough star that both Bellator and World Series of Fighting would love to add him to their roster. For that reason alone, it would be surprising if the UFC didn’t import Nate “The Great.”

Here is a look at five fights that await Marquardt in the UFC.

Begin Slideshow

Strikeforce Results: Does Nate Marquardt Deserve a Shot at the UFC?

Nate Marquardt finds himself on the outside looking in as Strikeforce fighters prepare to transition over to the UFC.Strikeforce held its final event on Saturday night, and Marquardt lost his welterweight title to Tarec Saffiedine in a shocking unanimo…

Nate Marquardt finds himself on the outside looking in as Strikeforce fighters prepare to transition over to the UFC.

Strikeforce held its final event on Saturday night, and Marquardt lost his welterweight title to Tarec Saffiedine in a shocking unanimous decision.

The bout will likely be looked back on near the end of 2013 as a candidate for upset of the year.

Before the loss to Saffiedine, Marquardt was thought to be the next breakout welterweight contender to potentially challenge Georges St-Pierre’s reign as UFC champion.

Unfortunately, the Marquardt bandwagon fell to pieces before the wheels even started to roll.

The former UFC middleweight contender made headlines after thrashing Tyron Woodley in his welterweight debut to win the vacant Strikeforce title. Against Saffiedine, Marquardt looked like a shell of his usual self. He was hesitant in the stand-up exchanges, which allowed Saffiedine to stay at medium range and rack up leg kicks.

Despite being a world-class fighter, Marquardt has never really shown the ability to overcome adversity. When things aren’t going his way, he usually freezes up and becomes passive. He had similar lackluster performances against Chael Sonnen and Yushin Okami.

In June 2011, Marquardt was released from the UFC for failing medical requirements for his UFC on Versus 4 bout against Rick Story.

Does he deserve another shot?

Some fighters have done far more wrong than Marquardt and received a second chance from the UFC. Marquardt is a great role model for the sport. It would be ludicrous to deny him a second opportunity.

The welterweight division is arguably the most stacked weight class in all of MMA, and it certainly wouldn’t do any harm to add a fighter like Marquardt to the mix.

UFC President Dana White has managed to overcome personal issues with fighters in the past, and it isn’t like he had a huge falling out with Marquardt over personal reasons.

Still, could it be too little, too late for Marquardt?

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

Strikeforce: Marquardt vs. Saffiedine Aftermath — The Awkward Goodbyes

I’ll be completely honest: I didn’t watch Strikeforce’s farewell card live last night. I recorded it, and watched it when I was done watching football. Am I just that dedicated of a 49ers/Packers fan? Not quite; last night was the first time I watched either team play all season. Rather, my mentality was that I haven’t been changing my schedule to accommodate Strikeforce events for the past two years now [Author Note: Damn, was the buyout really two years ago already? Time flies when you’re watching something die.], so why start now for the promotion’s grand finale.

Reading through the collection of Strikeforce tributes online, it’s obvious that I’m not the only one feeling this way. Articles and tweets about the demise of Strikeforce have been respectful, but not overly-sentimental, and the comments sections of various liveblogs covering the event didn’t exactly blow up for the occasion. There were none of the regrets, what-nows and what-could-have-beens that usually come along with failed business ventures – just a few awkward goodbyes as Zuffa prepared to pull the plug on the machine that no longer served any purpose.

And honestly, why would anyone other than Strikeforce’s employees, fighters and Scott Coker feel any differently? The death of Strikeforce doesn’t mark the end of a promotion that has been pumping out relevant fights for the past two years. It isn’t the death of an alternative option for fighters not wanting to sign with Zuffa. It isn’t the even the end of free MMA on basic cable.

I guess it would be different if this card was stacked with the fighters who made Strikeforce Strikeforce, such as Cung Le, Nick Diaz, Alistair Overeem, Ronda Rousey, Gilbert Melendez and Luke Rockhold, but they’ve either been assimilated into the UFC by now or they’ve pulled out of the event due to injury/apathy. Instead, this card served as one final night of squash fights – one of which actually ended differently than you may have expected.

I’ll be completely honest: I didn’t watch Strikeforce’s farewell card live last night. I recorded it, and watched it when I was done watching football. Am I just that dedicated of a 49ers/Packers fan? Not quite; last night was the first time I watched either team play all season. Rather, my mentality was that I haven’t been changing my schedule to accommodate Strikeforce events for the past two years now [Author Note: Damn, was the buyout really two years ago already? Time flies when you’re watching something die.], so why start now for the promotion’s grand finale.

Reading through the collection of Strikeforce tributes online, it’s obvious that I’m not the only one feeling this way. Articles and tweets about the demise of Strikeforce have been respectful, but not overly-sentimental, and the comments sections of various liveblogs covering the event didn’t exactly blow up for the occasion. There were none of the regrets, what-nows and what-could-have-beens that usually come along with failed business ventures – just a few awkward goodbyes as Zuffa prepared to pull the plug on the machine that no longer served any purpose.

And honestly, why would anyone other than Strikeforce’s employees, fighters and Scott Coker feel any differently? The death of Strikeforce doesn’t mark the end of a promotion that has been pumping out relevant fights for the past two years. It isn’t the death of an alternative option for fighters not wanting to sign with Zuffa. It isn’t the even the end of free MMA on basic cable.

I guess it would be different if this card was stacked with the fighters who made Strikeforce Strikeforce, such as Cung Le, Nick Diaz, Alistair Overeem, Ronda Rousey, Gilbert Melendez and Luke Rockhold, but they’ve either been assimilated into the UFC by now or they’ve pulled out of the event due to injury/apathy. Instead, this card served as one final night of squash fights – one of which actually ended differently than you may have expected.

So let’s talk about the upset on the main card. Tarec Saffiedine shocked us all not simply by defeating Nate Marquardt, but rather, by how easily he managed to do so. Saffiedine made effective usage of his crisp striking by absolutely battering Nate the Great throughout the bout, peppering Marquardt with leg kicks until his leg resembled Junior Dos Santos’ face. Saffiedine felt he needed to win in order to get an offer from the UFC, and it showed in his effort. Saffiedine’s conditioning, game plan and overall performance was far more convincing than Marquardt’s output last night, plain and simple.

And for those of you preparing for MMA Jeopardy, yes, Tarec Saffiedine is officially the final welterweight champion in Strikeforce history.

As for the rest of the card, there isn’t much to honestly say. We knew Cormier was going destroy what’s his name, and he did. Cormier may have been too ambitious with his callouts of both Frank Mir and Jon Jones after the fight, but if he gets past Frank Mir, I know I’m not the only person who is curious to see how he would do at 205. The fact that Josh Barnett was sick throughout fight week, yet still utterly dominated the big, scary-looking Nandor Guelmino was a testament to both Barnett’s skills and the lopsided nature of this matchup. Don’t get too excited about seeing Barnett back in the UFC though; it doesn’t sound like he’s in a rush to sign back on. Gegard Mousasi choked Mike Kyle into retirement in a little over four minutes, while Jacare Souza kicked off the night by locking UFC-loaned jobber Ed Herman in a kimura in just three minutes and ten seconds.

It wasn’t exactly the most glamorous way for Strikeforce to have gone out – and it certainly wasn’t the preferable way – but Strikeforce went out on the highest possible low note. The fights may have been squash matches of little significance, but damn it, they were at least fun to watch, so that has to count for something. Fun fights that don’t really matter in the long run – if that’s not Zuffa-owned Strikeforce in a nutshell, then what is?

Farewell, Strikeforce. You did what you could with what you had to work with, for the few people who still cared in the end. Now, back to business as usual.

Full Results

Main Card:

Tarec Saffiedine def. Nate Marquardt via unanimous decision
Daniel Cormier def. Dion Staring via TKO (punches), 4:02 of Round Two
Josh Barnett def. Nandor Guelmino via submission (arm-triangle), 2:11 of Round One
Gegard Mousasi def. Mike Kyle via submission (rear-naked choke), 4:09 of Round One
Ronaldo Souza def. Ed Herman via submission (Kimura), 3:10 of Round One

Preliminary Card:

Pat Healy def. Kurt Holobaugh via unanimous decision
Roger Gracie def. Anthony Smith via submission (arm-triangle), 3:16 of Round Two
Tim Kennedy def. Trevor Smith via sumission (guillotine), 1:36 of Round Three
Ryan Couture def. K.J. Noons via split decision
Adriano Martins def. Jorge Gurgel vie unanimous decision
Estevan Payan def. Mike Bravo via TKO (strikes), 4:01 in Round Two

@SethFalvo 

Nate Marquardt Tweets Photo of His Badly Battered Leg

As you might have heard last night, UFC veteran and former No. 2 middleweight Nate Marquardt got upset in a big way by homegrown Strikeforce talent Tarec Saffiedine. Over the course of their brutal five-round fight, Marquardt’s lead leg was pounded aga…

As you might have heard last night, UFC veteran and former No. 2 middleweight Nate Marquardt got upset in a big way by homegrown Strikeforce talent Tarec Saffiedine. Over the course of their brutal five-round fight, Marquardt‘s lead leg was pounded again and again by kicks, leaving it swollen and discolored. 

This morning, Marquardt posted a photo of how his leg was healing on Twitter for the whole world to see:

According to the broadcasters, Marquardt entered the fight as a 3:1 favorite to win.

The vast majority of the card was made up of squash matches, pitting guys like Pat Healy, Tim Kennedy, Josh Barnett and Daniel Cormier against the likes of Kurt Holobaugh, Trevor Smith, Nandor Guelmino and Dion Staring, respectively. 

Saffiedine gave fans the one true upset of the evening.

Again, Marquardt is a UFC veteran who has beaten the likes of Martin Kampmann, Demian Maia, Rousimar Palhares and Jeremy Horn. In his Strikeforce debut, he beat at-the-time 10-0 Tyron Woodley in convincing fashion. Woodley, by the way, beat Saffiedine in 2011 via unanimous decision. 

Marquardt could very well have been looking past Saffiedine, as the build-up to the fight was primarily centered around his return to the UFC, and his willingness to fight teammate and UFC welterweight champ Georges St-Pierre.

Saffiedine advances to 6-1 in his Strikeforce career, and could be looking at some big-name fights in the UFC. Woodley is scheduled to face highly-ranked wrestler Josh Koscheck in his UFC debut, and Saffiedine could be in line to fight somebody like Martin Kampmann when he hits “the show”.

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

Strikeforce Full Fight Video Highlights from the Promotion’s Final Fight Card

Strikeforce closed its doors on Saturday after delivering another night of entertaining fights.  The promotion had its ups and downs over the years, but when fight night rolled around, fans usually walked away with a satisfying experience.  T…

Strikeforce closed its doors on Saturday after delivering another night of entertaining fights.  The promotion had its ups and downs over the years, but when fight night rolled around, fans usually walked away with a satisfying experience.  The promotion’s final night was no exception.

On paper, all of the main card fights had a pronounced favorite and underdog and most of the fights ended with the favorite walking away with victory. The one fight that didn’t end as expected was the evening’s main event. 

Nate Marquardt was a heavy favorite to retain his Strikeforce welterweight title in that bout and it was expected that he would then waltz into the UFC and make a run at that promotion’s welterweight crown. Marquardt‘s opponent, Tarec Saffiedine, had other plans.

Saffiedine used heavy leg kicks to make sure that Marquardt wouldn’t be walking, much less waltzing anywhere following the contest.  By the end of their five-round contest, Marquardt‘s leg was a bruised and swollen mess, looking like something wild dogs would walk past without a second glance. Yes, it was that ugly.

In the evening’s co-main event, Daniel Cormier did what was expected and rolled over Dion Staring. However, after the fight, he did something that wasn’t expected, calling out UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones during his post-fight in-cage interview, saying that he would kick Jones’ ass sometime this fall.

Check out the video for highlights from all of Saturday’s main card fights and make sure to turn up the volume when they get to the Saffiedine highlights—those kicks were ugly.

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com