Eight months after being fired by the UFC for elevated testosterone levels before a scheduled match with Rick Story, Nate Marquardt is back under the Zuffa umbrella. The former UFC middleweight contender has signed with Strikeforce, where he is expected to make his long-delayed welterweight debut later this year. UFC president Dana White confirmed the news on last night’s edition of UFC Tonight on FUEL.
MMA Junkie adds that Marquardt’s first opponent in Strikeforce could be undefeated (though occasionally boring) 170-pound contender Tyron Woodley, who holds victories over Jordan Mein, Paul Daley, and Andre Galvao; verbal agreements are reportedly in place for the matchup. With the Strikeforce welterweight title still vacant, a Marquardt vs. Woodley match could have great significance to the promotion. Could this be Nate’s first step back to the Octagon? Or does Woodley pull a Chael and out-wrestle Marquardt for three rounds?
(Snot rocket, five points.)
Eight months after being fired by the UFC for elevated testosterone levels before a scheduled match with Rick Story, Nate Marquardt is back under the Zuffa umbrella. The former UFC middleweight contender has signed with Strikeforce, where he is expected to make his long-delayed welterweight debut later this year. UFC president Dana White confirmed the news on last night’s edition of UFC Tonight on FUEL.
MMA Junkie adds that Marquardt’s first opponent in Strikeforce could be undefeated (though occasionally boring) 170-pound contender Tyron Woodley, who holds victories over Jordan Mein, Paul Daley, and Andre Galvao; verbal agreements are reportedly in place for the matchup. With the Strikeforce welterweight title still vacant, a Marquardt vs. Woodley match could have great significance to the promotion. Could this be Nate’s first step back to the Octagon? Or does Woodley pull a Chael and out-wrestle Marquardt for three rounds?
Before signing with Strikeforce, Marquardt spent a fruitless six months signed to BAMMA, where his debut was postponed twice, leading Marquardt to part ways with the company in January. His last fight was a unanimous decision victory over Dan Miller at UFC 128 last March.
Just eight months after a furious Dana White released him from the UFC due to testing at elevated levels of testosterone, Nate Marquardt is back with a Zuffa-owned MMA organization.On Tuesday’s episode of UFC Tonight, Fuel TV reporter Ariel Helwan…
On Tuesday’s episode of UFC Tonight, Fuel TV reporter Ariel Helwani broke the news that Marquardt has signed a deal to fight for Strikeforce, which was purchased by the UFC promoter last year.
When he was released from the world’s premier MMA organization for spoiling his UFC on Versus 4 main-event fight with Rick Story just moments before the fighters were scheduled to hit the scales, it appeared Marquardt’s ties with Zuffa had been severed permanently.
“He failed his medicals,” White announced in a Twitter post immediately after news broke that Marquardt had been removed from his bout with Story. “Not only his he out of this fight and out of the main event on Versus. He will no long be with the UFC.”
However, approximately one month ago, White hinted at a change of heart regarding Marquardt’s future. In an interview where he showed no interest in bringing back fellow UFC middleweight castoff Anthony Johnson, White left the door open to a Marquardt return to one of Zuffa’s organizations.
“I don’t dislike Nate,” White told MMA Fighting. “I like Nate very much. We’ll see what happens.”
Though he had worked out a deal with British organization BAMMA after his release from the UFC, Marquardt has still not competed since a win over Dan Miller at UFC 128.
After BAMMA was unable to secure a fight for Marquardt in the nearly six months that he was contracted by the organization, the former UFC middleweight title contender asked for a release from the promotion so that he could get his MMA career back up and running.
One month later, Marquardt is a member of Strikeforce, home to other UFC castaways like Josh Barnett and Paul Daley.
It is not known whether Marquardt will have a chance to return to the UFC, but this is certainly a golden opportunity for the 32-year-old to reclaim his career and return to competing against some of the best fighters in the world.
Sean Smith is a Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report MMA. For the latest insight and updates on everything MMA, Follow Sean Smith on Twitter.
Putting yourself in Dana White’s doghouse generally means you can kiss your UFC career goodbye. Or does it?Not necessarily, according to White’s interview with Michael David Smith of MMAFighting.com. The UFC president spoke about two fighters in partic…
Putting yourself in Dana White‘s doghouse generally means you can kiss your UFC career goodbye. Or does it?
Not necessarily, according to White’s interview with Michael David Smith of MMAFighting.com. The UFC president spoke about two fighters in particular that have been removed from the UFC roster—Nate Marquardt and Anthony Johnson.
In regards to Johnson, White was adamant that Johnson needed to work on his career before making a return to the UFC.
“He needs to prove to me that he can be a professional, show up on weight and do the things he needs to do. If he does, we can talk.”
Although White is quick to dismiss a “Return of the Rumble,” he was quick to suggest that Marquardt could find himself in the Octagon soon.
“I don’t dislike Nate,” White said. “I like Nate very much. We’ll see what happens.”
White was furious with Marquardt’s medical issues that lead to him being released. So furious, in fact, that White didn’t bother to let people know via an official press release that Marquardt was handed his walking papers.
I, like many people, were critical of Johnson’s weight issues, but Marquardt has had his fair share of troubles. Between the steroid/PED issues and some dirty fighting at times, Marquardt certainly has a rap sheet in the MMA world.
It certainly seems like White feels it’s more important for fighters to be on weight than to be worried about what they do to their bodies.
Filed under: UFCCHICAGO — UFC President Dana White confirmed on Thursday that Anthony Johnson has been released from the UFC and won’t be welcome back until he can prove that he has put his weight problems behind him. But White wasn’t quite so adamant…
CHICAGO — UFC President Dana White confirmed on Thursday that Anthony Johnson has been released from the UFC and won’t be welcome back until he can prove that he has put his weight problems behind him. But White wasn’t quite so adamant that another fighter he released, Nate Marquardt, wouldn’t be welcome to return to the Octagon.
With Johnson, White said missing weight by 11 pounds at UFC 142 made it clear that he doesn’t belong in the UFC. White also specifically ruled out the possibility of Johnson fighting for Strikeforce, and said that Johnson needs to go to another promotion, make weight and win fights before the UFC would consider giving him another chance.
“He needs to go fight somewhere else, get some wins, come in on weight,” White said of Johnson. “He needs to prove to me that he can be a professional, show up on weight and do the things he needs to do. If he does, we can talk.”
When asked about Marquardt, however, White sounded open to the possibility that he could re-sign with the UFC. Marquardt last fought at UFC 128 in March, defeating Dan Miller, but was cut by the UFC after his testosterone replacement therapy resulted in a high testosterone count, causing the Pennsylvania State Athletic Commission to cancel his fight. White was furious at the time, but several months later he sounds willing to forgive and forget.
“I don’t dislike Nate,” White said. “I like Nate very much. We’ll see what happens.”
Marquardt and Johnson were originally scheduled to fight each other in the main event of the UFC on Versus card in August, before Johnson pulled out with an injury and before Marquardt ran into his trouble with the Pennsylvania Commission. Both fighters are now free agents, which means that if another promotion wants to sign them, it could book a fight worthy of being a UFC main event.
But if one of those free agents signs with the UFC this year, it sounds like it’s going to be Marquardt. White may eventually forgive and forget with Johnson, but that won’t happen any time soon.
Filed under: MMA Media Watch, UFCSunday morning marked the airing of an Outside the Lines segment on ESPN that was denounced by UFC President Dana White before he had even seen it — a show that presented the UFC’s pay model as one that richly rewards …
Sunday morning marked the airing of an Outside the Lines segment on ESPN that was denounced by UFC President Dana White before he had even seen it — a show that presented the UFC’s pay model as one that richly rewards a handful of favorite stars while paying the majority of fighters as interchangeable drones.
White has already promised a response, and he’ll surely say that ESPN’s report contained incomplete information about how much the company pays its fighters. And he’ll surely be right, for the simple reason that the UFC, like many private businesses, keeps what it pays its workers confidential. ESPN deserves credit for attempting to uncover the closely guarded secret of how much UFC fighters actually make, but specific dollar amounts were lacking in this report.
For all the work that went into the Outside the Lines report, we still don’t know how much the UFC really pays its fighters.
“Outside the Lines has spoken with more than 20 current, former and potential UFC fighters, as well as agents and promoters,” ESPN’s John Barr said as he strolled around a cage in the televised segment. “To a person, they say UFC fighters have not received their fair share of the company’s rapidly increasing revenue. Nearly all of them also refused to speak on camera, for fear the UFC would blackball them.”
But the fact that ESPN couldn’t get any active fighters to speak — and especially to reveal specific dollar amounts — was the biggest flaw in the report. The report did make a strong case that highly paid UFC fighters make far more than low-level fighters make. In that respect the UFC follows a pay model similar to that of Hollywood studios, where a handful of stars make the bulk of the money, and the bit players are left with much less.
And while UFC co-owner Lorenzo Fertitta claimed that the UFC pays its fighters in the neighborhood of 50 percent of all the promotion’s revenues, ESPN’s investigation made a convincing case that the UFC actually pays less than that.
However, there were also some weaknesses of ESPN’s reporting, which pegged the actual amount the UFC pays its fighters as “roughly 10 percent of the revenue.”
ESPN.com initially reported that the median annual income for UFC fighters was $17,000 to $23,000 a year, citing figures compiled by Rob Maysey of the Mixed Martial Arts Fighters Association. ESPN later corrected that report and said the $17,000 to $23,000 figure was actually the median pay per fight, not per year. However, even those corrected numbers do not appear to include sponsorships, bonuses and other forms of income that UFC fighters make.
And median pay per fight isn’t necessarily a particularly telling statistic. Consider a low-level UFC newcomer who signs a contract that guarantees him $6,000 to show, and another $6,000 to win for his first fight, then $8,000 for his second fight and $10,000 for his third. If that fighter fights three times, wins all three fights and earns a $75,000 Knockout of the Night bonus in his third fight, his median pay per fight would only be $16,000. But his total pay for the three fights would be $123,000, for an average of $41,000 a fight.
For an example of an entry-level fighter who has cashed in big time with bonuses, look at Edson Barboza, who signed with the UFC in 2010 after having six pro fights in small regional promotions. Barboza’s “show money” is reportedly just $6,000 a fight. But Barboza has won all four of his fights, meaning he also got a $6,000 win bonus for all four fights, and Barboza has received three Fight of the Night bonuses and one Knockout of the Night bonus (including both Fight of the Night and Knockout of the Night on Saturday at UFC 142). Thanks to the UFC’s bonus-heavy pay structure, Barboza’s total take for his first four UFC fights is at least $348,000, even before any sponsorships or other sources of income.
Even without bonuses, entry-level fighters aren’t necessarily doing too badly. One such fighter is UFC featherweight Jim Hettes. Hettes was an unknown in MMA circles, fighting on the regional scene, until he caught a break in August and signed with the UFC on a deal that paid him $6,000 to show and $6,000 to win on his first fight, and then $8,000 to show and $8,000 to win on his second fight. Hettes won both fights, for a total take of $28,000, and is now looking like one of the brightest young prospects in the featherweight division.
For a 24-year-old like Hettes, making $28,000 in five months while fighting in the UFC, with a good chance of making a lot more than that in the future, is a dream come true. ESPN didn’t quote any active fighters complaining about their pay on the record and indicated that the inability to find such fighters was a sign that fighters were scared to speak out. But maybe the reality is most UFC fighters are OK with what they make.
In fact, when low-level fighters are released from the UFC because of losses they suffer in the Octagon, they almost universally express a desire to win enough fights in other promotions to earn the right to return to the UFC — which strongly suggests that they don’t view the contracts they’ve just been released from as onerous.
The handful of mid-level fighters who have been released from the UFC for reasons having to do with issues outside the Octagon (fighters like Jon Fitch, Nate Marquardt and Miguel Torres) also generally apologize for their transgressions and ask to return to the UFC. Again, that suggests that the contracts they were released from were better than the contracts they could earn in other promotions.
And the few prominent fighters who have become free agents, like Tito Ortiz, have generally decided when the dust settled that the grass was greener inside the Octagon than out of it. UFC Hall of Famer Ken Shamrock appeared in the Outside the Lines report, and it may not have been clear to viewers who aren’t MMA fans that Shamrock made millions of dollars in the UFC, or that Shamrock left the promotion because he wasn’t good enough to win inside the Octagon anymore, not because he objected to the terms of his contract. That was clarified, however, in the panel discussion that took place after Barr’s taped Outside the Lines report.
It is true that a handful of well-known fighters have been able to leave the UFC and make more money elsewhere. That includes former heavyweight champions Andrei Arlovski and Tim Sylvia, who both left the UFC to sign with Affliction in 2008. But Affliction fell apart after putting on just two fight cards, which suggests that its higher-paying business model didn’t work.
ESPN’s report would have been strengthened by addressing other promotions’ business models, including not only Affliction but also Bellator and other smaller American MMA organizations. The UFC is by far the biggest MMA promotion and therefore deserves to have by far the greatest scrutiny, but a comparison of the UFC’s pay scale with other promotions’ pay scales would have provided some valuable context.
Ultimately, as former UFC heavyweight champion Ricco Rodriguez said on Outside the Lines, “The UFC gives you the best opportunity.” It would be great to see more opportunities for more fighters, but at the moment, even if UFC pay is lacking, it beats the alternatives in MMA.
Nate Marquardt is a free agent once again.Marquardt’s last fight was in March of 2010 against Dan Miller, a fight he won by unanimous decision.Then, Marquardt’s next scheduled fight was supposed to be against Rick Story at UFC on Versus 4. However, the…
Marquardt’s last fight was in March of 2010 against Dan Miller, a fight he won by unanimous decision.
Then, Marquardt’s next scheduled fight was supposed to be against Rick Story at UFC on Versus 4. However, the day before the fight, Marquardt was released from the UFC for abnormally high levels of testosterone.
Marquardt then signed with the British fight organization BAMMA, and never ended up fighting for them.
His debut was pushed back two times, and after the second time, he requested release from the organization, which was granted.
Now that he’s a free agent again, he has several options for his next potential organization and fight. Let’s take a look at four potential destinations and several fights Nate Marquardt could take.
Just eight months after a furious 
CHICAGO — 
Sunday morning marked the airing of an Outside the Lines segment on ESPN that was denounced by