It was announced a few months ago that long-time middleweight contender Nate “The Great” Marquardt would be dropping down to the welterweight division.On June 18th, at UFC on Versus 4, Nate will be making his long-awaited welterweight debut against ris…
It was announced a few months ago that long-time middleweight contender Nate “The Great” Marquardt would be dropping down to the welterweight division.
On June 18th, at UFC on Versus 4, Nate will be making his long-awaited welterweight debut against rising contender Rick Story.
The fight is a great matchup for Marquardt. Story is a very game opponent, but he doesn’t possess the well-rounded skill set that Nate does. Assuming the weight cut doesn’t hurt him too much, Nate has a very good chance of winning this fight.
The question is: After fighting for more than ten years at middleweight, why is Nate Marquardt moving to the welterweight division now?
Some have speculated that the move may have been made out of desperation, and I can’t help but agree, to a certain extent.
Nate is 32, which isn’t ancient by any means, but he probably only has three or four relevant years left in the sport.
Marquardt has accomplished much in his storied MMA career, but one thing has alluded him: a UFC championship.
Capturing a UFC belt is something Nate would like to accomplish before he retires and, realistically, he would have little chance of doing it at middleweight.
Marquardt has fought for the middleweight title before, against current champion Anderson Silva, and come up short. It’s always difficult to market title shot rematches when the champion has already handily beat the challenger. Given that Nate is a lackluster 2-2 in his last four fights at middleweight, a rematch with Anderson Silva would be particularly difficult to market.
Nate knows all these things, and he also knows that the UFC has little interest in making title fights that will be difficult to market.
So, the move to welterweight is a calculated one for Nate.
Georges St-Pierre has been sitting atop the welterweight division for quite some time now and the UFC is having a really tough time finding him viable opponents.
This presents Marquardt with a very interesting opportunity. Fans are already familiar with him as a top five contender at middleweight and he will naturally be viewed as more dangerous contender at welterweight, due to his increased size advantage.
With the shortage of contenders in the division and Nate being a marketable opponent, a win over Story would leave Marquardt no more than two fights away from a title shot.
Desperation might be a bit to extreme a term to describe the motivation behind Marquardt’s move to 170 lbs, but the sentiment is right. Nate knows his time left in this sport is limited and that his best chance for a title shot lies in the welterweight division.
Filed under: UFCIt’s been six months since the UFC began experimenting with preliminary card fights on Facebook, and on Sunday it will set a new high-water mark.
The promotion on Monday announced that all eight undercard fights for the upcoming UFC o…
It’s been six months since the UFC began experimenting with preliminary card fights on Facebook, and on Sunday it will set a new high-water mark.
The promotion on Monday announced that all eight undercard fights for the upcoming UFC on Versus 4 show will stream live on the social networking site. Just last week, with UFC 131, the promotion set a new best with six prelims streaming on Facebook.
This will mark the 11th consecutive fight card that the UFC has streamed fights for free at Facebook, and it will be the fifth consecutive show the promotion has provided a way for fans to see each fight on the card live.
UFC on Versus 4 will feature a four-fight main card that airs live on the Versus cable channel, the second of the UFC’s four-fight 2011 deal with the channel. The Facebook live stream is scheduled to begin at 4:55 p.m. Eastern. The main card starts at 9 p.m. Eastern on Versus. Versus will also again produce a live pre-fight preview show and post-fight analysis show before and after the main card featuring Todd Harris, UFC light heavyweight Stephan Bonnar and MMA Fighting’s Ariel Helwani.
To gain access to the fights, viewers must “like” the UFC on Facebook. As of Monday evening, the UFC has more than 5.7 million fans at the site.
The “main” and “co-main” events of the Facebook prelims are featherweight bouts featuring a pair of former lightweights dropping down – both looking to snap out of disastrous three-fight losing skids.
Tyson Griffin (14-5, 7-5 UFC) returns to featherweight for the first time since the early part of his career to face Manny Gamburyan (11-5, 2-3 UFC), who fights for the first time since a knockout loss to featherweight champion Jose Aldo last November in a WEC title fight. Griffin has split decision losses to Evan Dunham and Nik Lentz in the last year, plus a quick first-round knockout loss to Takanori Gomi last August on Versus. Gamburyan fights in the UFC for the first time in two years after dropping to featherweight and sliding over to the WEC, where he went 3-0 before his loss to Aldo.
And Joe Stevenson (31-13, 8-7 UFC), the Season 2 welterweight winner of “The Ultimate Fighter,” goes for his first win since October 2009 when he takes on Javier Vazquez (15-5), who makes his UFC debut after going 2-3 in the WEC. Stevenson has dropped decisions to George Sotiropoulos and Danny Castillo, and was knocked out by Mac Danzig in December. Stevenson is 3-6 since challenging BJ Penn for the lightweight title at UFC 80 three and a half years ago, including the loss to Penn. Monday, on “The MMA Hour,” Stevenson talked about his dislike of Vazquez and why he dropped to featherweight.
The Facebook prelims stream opens with a lightweight bout between TUF 12 runner-up Michael Johnson, fighting for the first time since losing to Jonathan Brookins in December on the show’s finale, against Edward Faaloto, who makes his UFC debut after a loss in his WEC debut last November.
Nik Lentz (21-3-2, 5-0-1 UFC) tries to remain unbeaten in the UFC against submission specialist Charles Oliveira in a lightweight bout.
Rich Attonito drops from middleweight after a loss to Dave Branch in December to make his welterweight debut against Daniel Roberts, who lost to Claude Patrick at UFC 129 in April. Attonito was original scheduled to face Matt Brown, but an injury to Martin Kampmann forced him out of a fight with John Howard, and Brown moved up the card for that fight. Roberts stepped in to face Attonito.
Other bouts include a featherweight contest between Ricardo Lamas and Matt Grice, a welterweight bout between Charlie Brenneman and TJ Grant, and Joe Lauzon returns for the first time since a UFC 123 loss in November to Sotiropoulos to face England’s Curt Warburton.
The UFC began streaming preliminary fights in January with its Fight for the Troops 2 show at Fort Hood, Texas. Since then, the promotion has included free Facebook fights for each event, regardless of the main card’s platform – be it on pay-per-view, Spike or Versus.
UFC on Versus 4 takes place Sunday at the Consol Energy Center in Pittsburgh, and will be the promotion’s first event in the Pennsylvania city. The card features a main event between Nate Marquardt and Rick Story – with Marquardt making his welterweight debut and Story fighting on short notice after a win just a month prior against Thiago Alves at UFC 130. Marquardt was scheduled to face Anthony Johnson, but an injury forced Johnson off the card.
And in a pair of heavyweight bouts, kickboxing specialists Pat Barry and Cheick Kongo clash, and Matt Mitrione looks to stay unbeaten against Christian Morecraft, whose last win sent Mitrione friend and training partner Sean McCorkle packing from the UFC.
After spending years as one of the sport’s most feared middleweight contenders, in the future, Nate Marquardt will be looking to showcase his talents in the UFC’s welterweight division. Prior to making his UFC debut in 2005, Marquardt, a se…
After spending years as one of the sport’s most feared middleweight contenders, in the future, Nate Marquardt will be looking to showcase his talents in the UFC’s welterweight division.
Prior to making his UFC debut in 2005, Marquardt, a seven-time King of Pancrase middleweight champion, was regarded as one of the sport’s brightest prospects.
Since making the jump to the UFC, however, Marquardt, who holds Octagon-victories over Ivan Salaverry, Joe Doerksen, Crafton Wallace, Dean Lister, Jeremy Horn, Martin Kampmann, Wilson Gouveia, Demian Maia, Rousimar Palhares, and Dan Miller, has firmly established himself as one of the sport’s preeminent contenders.
In what will be his first welterweight match, Marquardt is currently slated to take on Rick Story at UFC Live: Marquardt vs. Story on June 26th in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
I recently had the opportunity to speak with Nate Marquardt about, among other topics, his first day in a martial arts academy, fighting in the UFC, and his upcoming match with Rick Story.
Were you involved in any martial arts growing up?
I started when I was 15 years old. I started in a school that taught Brazilian jiu-jitsu, karate, and kick-boxing.
Do you remember your first day?
I remember going in and meeting the instructor. I remember I had to have my mom sign a waiver—because I was 15 years old [laughs].
Was your mother at all apprehensive to sign on?
Not really. At that point, I was going to pay for it myself—I had a part-time job—so it was, kind of, my decision. She wasn’t apprehensive, though; I was always athletic and getting involved with rough sports when I was growing up.
What inspired you to start training?
When I saw the first three UFCs, with Royce Gracie; him being the smaller guy beating the bigger guys really intrigued me.
What were your first impressions of the sport?
I loved it—right from the start. I remember training with these two guys that would, basically, manhandle me and it was really cool, because we were using technique. They were bigger than me, of course, but they were beating me solely with technique and it was a lot of fun. You get put into positions where you feel claustrophobic or times when you get that panicked feeling when you get hit in sparring, but it was all good experience.
What were your intentions when you started training?
Honestly, this is what I wanted to do ever since I was a kid; whatever sport I was playing was what I wanted to do for a living. I could never see myself with any type of career where I sit in an office—I wanted to play sports. As soon as I saw that and started training, that’s what I wanted to do.
When did you realize that this was something that you might be able to make a career out of?
When I went over and fought and started training in Japan, I felt that this was something that I could do fulltime. At that time, though, it was barely covering the bills—actually, it wasn’t; I was just able to live very frugally so I could scrape by [laughs]. It wasn’t really until I signed with the UFC, though; that’s when I realized that it could be an actual career.
Do you ever think about where you might be—had you not taken the mixed martial arts-route?
I think about it sometimes. I think I would still be doing something fun. Like I said, I can’t see myself in an office or doing anything indoors—actually. Even if I were a firefighter or police officer—I think that that would be something that I could do.
How did you come into contact with the UFC?
I went to one of the Grappler’s Quest events. I was training with Greg Jackson and his whole team went up to Grappler’s Quest in Las Vegas. I saw Dana White and my wife said, “Oh, you should go talk to him.” And I was like, “Ah, I don’t want to go talk to him—he’s got a million people there that want to talk to him. I don’t want to bother him.” And she said, “No—go talk to him, say, ‘hi’ and go from there.” So, I went up to him and I introduced myself and said ‘hi’ and he knew who I was and he asked me how many more fights I had left and I told him and he, basically, showed that he was interested. I had one more fight in Pancrase and after I finished that, I was able to contact the UFC and I got my first fight booked.
Do you ever think about how long it may have taken you to make it to the UFC—had you not went up and talked with Dana that day?
No—I’ve never really thought about that. It’s hard to say, though, because I think my management at the time wanted to keep me over in Japan, so it could’ve taken a bit longer.
Were you at all apprehensive to sign the contract?
No—not at all.
What does fighting in the UFC mean to you?
It’s been my dream since I started. As far as my career, it means everything to me. They’re a great company and they’ve got the best fighters in the world. You know you’re at the top when you’re fighting the big guys in the UFC.
How much do you feel you’ve improved since first coming to the UFC?
A tonne. From a physical-standpoint, I’ve improved a lot; I’ve improved a lot on my strength, quickness, and explosive power. Technically, I’ve improved a tonne, as well. My striking was always good, but Trevor Wittman has got me to the point where I feel that I’m always dominant in the striking war.
Are you at all tired of being asked questions about your move to 170?
[Long pause] Ah, a little bit. I’m not sure if I’m tired of it, but I think people have been focusing on it a lot. It’s big news for the welterweight division, but, for me, it’s not a huge thing. it’s exciting and new, but the weight-cut isn’t that huge of a deal. My training is much more important than the weight-cut. For me, the weight-cut is, basically, just being hungrier than I was before [laughs]. My training takes up, pretty much, all of my energy, so I’m not focused on the weight-cut.
Do you feel any different at welterweight?
I feel much better; I feel quicker, my stamina has gone way up, and I just feel much better overall at 170. I feel like I have more energy, too.
Had you thought about making the move sooner?
Not really, no. Before my last fight, it was something that my coaches and I talked about and I thought it was a good career move.
Do you regret not making the move to welterweight sooner?
No—not at all. I think I have had some great fights at 185 and I was at the top of the division for years. Like I said; this is new and exciting—there are new guys to fight and there’s a new challenge in making weight.
What do you feel you can accomplish at 170?
My goal is to be the world champion and I definitely want to accomplish that.
Would you have any qualms fighting Georges for the championship?
He was initially the one that, kind of, suggested that I moved to 170. We talked about it and, to be honest, we’re going to talk about that if the time ever comes, but for right now, I’m not even thinking about that.
What type of impact do you think Georges has had on your career?
He’s had a huge impact; he’s helped me so much in so many areas. Right now, he’s helping me with the weight-cut and he’s helped me with training methods. One of the biggest things that he opened my eyes to was the wrestling. I thought that I was at a pretty good level—and I am at a decent level—but he can show you how important wrestling is [laughs]. If you watch any of his fights or spar with him, you automatically realize that that’s something that you need to master to be a great fighter. That’s what I’m trying to do; I’m trying to master everything that it takes to be a great fighter.
So, you look at Georges as a role model?
Yes, for sure. Obviously he’s a little bit younger, so it’s kind of weird to look up to someone that’s younger than me. We all see him just dominate his division; he comes out and performs every night—even if he puts on a bad performance, he still pulls out the win. He’s a very smart kid and he’s definitely someone that you want to mimic.
How are you feeling going into your upcoming match?
I feel great. Fighting in the UFC, this is as good as I’ve ever felt. I’m really excited.
Is it at all challenging to contend with an opponent change midway through your preparations?
It can be, but I’m just keeping everything basic. Like I said; I’ve got a lot of experience, so there won’t be any surprises.
How big of a role do you feel your experience is going to play in this match?
I think it’s huge; it’s going to be one of the deciding factors. I just feel that I have too many tools and too many tricks for him. I think that I’m going to overwhelm Story.
Do you feel Rick has anything to offer that you haven’t seen before?
No.
What do you think his game-plan is going to be—come fight-night?
Well, I think he’s going to try to use his pressure; I think he’s going to come forward with a brawling-style and try to attack the body, get me into a slug-fest, and then either try to take me down or push me against the cage and then try to take me down … Like I said, though; my experience is going to pay off in this fight; I’m going to hit him with shots and he’s going to wonder if he should be in there with me [laughs]. If he gets me up against the cage, I’m going to turn it and if he’s able to get me down, then I’m going to get right back up and it’s going to be wasted energy. I’m going to wear him out and I’m going to put him away.
What would a win next weekend mean to you?
It’s like any win; it’s a sense of accomplishment. That’s what I’m there to do, so it will make me happy to know that I’ve accomplished my goal.
Assuming you win, where do you see yourself in the UFC’s welterweight division?
I don’t know. I think I’ll be somewhere at the top, but I don’t really know. It’s not really my place to say where I’m at; it’s my job to go out there and do my best—to fight.
A fight that many fans have asked for will happen at UFC 137. UFC welterweight champ Georges St-Pierre will meet Strikeforce Welterweight Champion Nick Diaz in one of the biggest matches of the year. St-Pierre, 22-2, is currently on a nine-fight winnin…
A fight that many fans have asked for will happen at UFC 137.
UFC welterweight champ Georges St-Pierre will meet Strikeforce Welterweight Champion Nick Diaz in one of the biggest matches of the year.
St-Pierre, 22-2, is currently on a nine-fight winning streak while Diaz is riding a 10-fight win streak.
Despite Diaz being a tough fighter, many predict he will become another victim of St-Pierre. Some may also believe St-Pierre could move to middleweight . Here are some reasons why they may be right.
Although Nate Marquardt may make his move to 170 a permanent one, a fight with Michael Bisping could make him move back to middleweight. Marquardt told MMA Junkie Radio that although he felt he could be champion at middleweight, his natural weight is 1…
Although Nate Marquardt may make his move to 170 a permanent one, a fight with Michael Bisping could make him move back to middleweight.
Marquardt told MMA Junkie Radio that although he felt he could be champion at middleweight, his natural weight is 170 lbs.
“I feel like I could hold the title at 185 lbs, but for me, it’s more of a natural weight to fight at 170,” Marquardt said. “If I ever did go back to 185, I wouldn’t put on extra weight on purpose. I have more energy for practices. I just feel better.”
Bisping was called out by many fighters including Marquardt, after his fight with Jorge Rivera.
“The way I’m looking at this is that it’s a permanent move,” he said. “But if I got a fight with someone like Michael Bisping—there’s been some talk about that—I’d fight him at 185 but keep my weight the same. Really, this is the right weight for me.”
Marquardt will make his welterweight debut against Rick Story on June 26 at UFC Live.
This match up is a big one for the welterweight division.The UFC is having a hard time finding fighters who they can market as legitimate contenders for George St. Pierre (as evidenced by the fact that GSP’s next opponent, Nick Diaz, has never beat a t…
This match up is a big one for the welterweight division.
The UFC is having a hard time finding fighters who they can market as legitimate contenders for George St. Pierre (as evidenced by the fact that GSP’s next opponent, Nick Diaz, has never beat a top 10 opponent).
Whoever wins this fight will be taking a big step towards title contention.
Rick Story has been slowly carving out his mark in the welterweight division for some time now and is finally getting the recognition he deserves after defeating Thiago Alves less than a month ago.
Nate Marquardt is brand new to the welterweight division, but he has been a top-five fighter in the UFC’s middleweight division for a long time.
The winner of this fight is not guaranteed a title shot, but they would likely be no more than one fight away from it.
It was announced a few months ago that long-time middleweight contender Nate “The Great” Marquardt would be dropping down to the welterweight division.
It’s been six months since the UFC began experimenting with preliminary card fights on