Nate Marquardt | UFC Betting Sites - The Best MMA Online Bookies

Martin Kampmann Out, Matt Brown Meets John Howard at UFC on Versus 4

Filed under: UFCThe UFC’s Pittsburgh debut got another shakeup overnight.

The UFC announced late Monday that Martin Kampmann has stepped out of his UFC on Versus 4 fight against John Howard with an injury. To compensate, Matt Brown moves up the card …

Filed under: UFC

The UFC’s Pittsburgh debut got another shakeup overnight.

The UFC announced late Monday that Martin Kampmann has stepped out of his UFC on Versus 4 fight against John Howard with an injury. To compensate, Matt Brown moves up the card to face Howard, and Brown’s original opponent, Rich Attonito, will now face Daniel Roberts. The UFC did not disclose the nature of Kampmann’s injury.

Just last week, the card’s main event, between Anthony Johnson and Nate Marquardt, had to change when Johnson pulled out with an injury. Marquardt, dropping from middleweight to make his welterweight debut, now faces Rick Story, who just 10 days ago upset Thiago Alves at UFC 130.

UFC on Versus 4 takes place at the Consol Energy Center in Pittsburgh on June 26. The main card airs live on the Versus cable channel, part of a four-fight deal the UFC has with Versus for 2011. Versus previously was the home of the WEC, which was folded into the UFC at the start of this year.

Kampmann was looking to get back in the win column after a pair of decision losses – both controversial – to Jake Shields and Diego Sanchez. Shields beat Kampmann by split decision at UFC 121 last October to get a shot at Georges St-Pierre’s welterweight title. In March, at UFC on Versus 3, Kampmann lost a unanimous decision to Diego Sanchez – though many believe Kampmann won the fight, and FightMetric’s stats indicate Kampmann did more damage.

Brown has lost three straight, all by submission, to Ricardo Almeida, Chris Lytle and Brian Foster. Howard has lost two in a row, to Jake Ellenberger and Alves, after a 4-0 start to his UFC career.

Attonito also drops down from middleweight to welterweight for the first time. He is coming off a loss to Dave Branch at the TUF 12 Finale in December. Roberts had his three-fight streak stopped by Claude Patrick at UFC 129 in April.

“I feel I’m finally down at the weight class I should have been the entire time,” Attonito said in a release from his management company. “I feel better than I’ve ever felt physically and athletically.”

With just four bouts on the main card on Versus, the event will tie a UFC record for most preliminary card fights on one show with eight. UFC 103, in September 2009, was the first card in the promotion’s history with 13 fights – eight of which were prelims. That was also the first time a pair of prelims aired live on Spike TV.

Though not yet announced by the UFC, some of all of the UFC on Versus 4 prelims could wind up on Facebook. All of the UFC’s events since January’s Fight for the Troops 2 show have included preliminary fights streaming for free on the social networking site. Including this Saturday’s UFC 131 pay-per-view, the last four have aired each fight on the card with a combination of Facebook, Spike and pay-per-views.

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

UFC on Versus 4: Is Rick Story Taking the Fight with Nate Marquardt Foolish?

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 perenn…

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.

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

Anthony Johnson Injured; Rick Story Steps Up to Face Nate Marquardt at ‘UFC on Versus 4?

(Get used to this mug. Props: MMARatings.net)

Anthony Johnson was slated to welcome Nate Marquardt to the welterweight division at this month’s UFC Live event (June 26th in Pittsburgh), but due to a rotator cuff injury suffered in training, ‘Rumble’ won’t be able to make that date. Coming in on short-notice against Marquardt will be rising welterweight star Rick Story, who was in action just last weekend at UFC 130, picking up his sixth-consecutive win against Thiago Alves.

It’s a gamble for Story, but taking out a longtime middleweight contender like Marquardt would earn the Washington native even more respect in the crowded contender pool at 170. Will Story be able to use his wrestling to stifle Marquardt in the same way that Chael Sonnen did at UFC 109, or is Nate going to put the welterweight division on notice, starting with Rick?

The current lineup of UFC Live: Marquardt vs. Story (aka ‘UFC on Versus 4’) is after the jump…

(Get used to this mug. Props: MMARatings.net)

The current lineup of UFC Live: Marquardt vs. Story (aka ‘UFC on Versus 4′) is after the jump…

Main Card
Nate Marquardt vs. Rick Story
Cheick Kongo vs. Pat Barry
Martin Kampmann vs. John Howard
Matt Mitrione vs. Christian Morecraft

Preliminary card
Tyson Griffin vs. Manvel Gamburyan
Joe Stevenson vs. Javier Vazquez
Joe Lauzon vs. Curt Warburton
Matt Brown vs. Rich Attonito
Charlie Brenneman vs. TJ Grant
Nik Lentz vs. Charles Oliveira
Ricardo Lamas vs. Matt Grice
Michael Johnson vs. Edward Faaloloto

UFC on Versus 4: Rick Story vs Nate Marquardt a Great Opportunity

MMA Junkie reported earlier today that UFC officials announced that Anthony Johnson was forced to withdraw from his June 26 bout with welterweight newcomer Nate Marquardt (31-10-2) for UFC on Versus 4. His replacement is UFC welterweight…

His replacement is UFC welterweight up and comer Rick Story (13-3).

There was no rest for Story after having beat Thiago Alves at UFC 130: Rampage vs Hamill this past weekend, he will be back in the Octagon in less than a month.

Story really controlled the action against an always dangerous Alves and despite the striking prowess of Alves he even got the better of Alves in some of the striking exchanges.

Marquardt is making his welterweight debut after struggling to put together the necessary win streak to build towards his second title shot in the division. Furthermore, he struggled in fights against the larger wrestlers of the division, namely Chael Sonnen and Yushin Okami.

With the drop to 170 pounds Marquardt will probably be one of the bigger welterweights in the division with the idea being that he will probably better be able to deal with the strong grapplers in the lighter weight class.

This is obviously a big chance for Marquardt to make a mark in his welterweight debut and quest for a title shot. However, nobody has more to gain in this fight than Story who has quietly positioned himself to being on the cusp of the upper echelons of the welterweight division.

Story lost in his UFC debut at UFC 99 to John Hathaway, but since then has rattled off six straight victories. In his last three fights he has put a damper on two fellow up and comers in Dustin Hazlett and Johnny Hendricks along with the victory over Alves as mentioned earlier.

A win over Marquardt definitely puts Story on the radar for title contention and would probably be one or two fights away from fighting for UFC gold.

Carlos Condit will be fighting Dong Hyun Kim on July 2 at UFC 132 and the winner of this fight might be the perfect follow up for the winner of Maquardt vs Story and a strong case for a title shot to the winner of that could be made.

Obviously Marquardt is no pushover in his own right, having 43 professional fights to his name and always being near the top of the middleweight division. That being said, Story is a pretty decent wrestler and despite lacking the technical striking prowess of the better strikers in the division he definitely tries to make up for it by keeping the pressure on.

Marquardt is a pretty technical striker himself and the question will be whether he is able to stay away from the wrestling of Story, if yes then one could probably expect Marquardt to get the knockout or out-point Story for the decision victory.

If Story can employ the game plan he implemented so effectively against Alves for his fight with Marquardt, he might be able to grind out another victory.

In any case the fight is an excellent opportunity for both fighters, despite being at different stages in their careers, both Story and Marquardt are working towards a title shot and a win for either fighter does a lot to get them closer to that goal.

Georges St-Pierre the current welterweight champion is taking on the the Strikeforce welterweight champion Nick Diaz in October at UFC 137.

Although Diaz maybe the underdog against St-Pierre, he is probably the most complete fighter St-Pierre has fought in a while and his aggressive nature in fights is something St-Pierre hasn’t seen from an opponent in a while.

Story is aggressive in his own right so if he does get to that title shot fans of the welterweight division will be privy to two title fights where the challengers bring the fight to the champion, something that hasn’t happened in a while at welterweight.

Marquardt is good friends with St-Pierre and should he win in a few weeks it will be interesting to see how that situation unfolds. Maybe this was part of the plan, have Marquardt move down and St-Pierre move up to middleweight for a super fight showdown with middleweight champion Anderson Silva.

Leon Horne has been contributing to Bleacher Report for three years now. He focuses mainly on mixed martial arts, but he has also written about tennis, football and hockey. Just send him a message if you want to talk sports or discuss any opportunities. You can follow him on Twitter for updates

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

Anthony Johnson Out, Rick Story To Take on Nate Marquardt at UFC on Versus 4

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…

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.

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

Nate Marquardt vs. Anthony Johnson: An Early Head To Toe Breakdown

In the Main Event of UFC on Versus 4 Nate Marquardt and Anthony Johnson will square off. This will be Marquardt’s debut at 170 pounds.He is also coming off of a win at 185 pounds against Dan Miller. Johnson is coming off of a win over Dan Hardy.N…

In the Main Event of UFC on Versus 4 Nate Marquardt and Anthony Johnson will square off. This will be Marquardt’s debut at 170 pounds.

He is also coming off of a win at 185 pounds against Dan Miller. Johnson is coming off of a win over Dan Hardy.

Now let’s break down this fight with punches, kicks, wrestling, submissions, quality of opponents and intangibles.

Begin Slideshow