Nate Marquardt Unafraid of Fight With Demian Maia at UFC 102

by Luke Thomas on Aug 19, 2009 9:30 AM EDT in MMA News

When a fighter like Maia - who has one incredibly strong asset and is in the process of developing his other assets - takes on a fighter like Marquardt - who has a fairly complete skill set and is polishing them during training camp - one never quite knows what to expect. The fact that some of the critical skills Maia will likely need to defeat Marquardt are still inchoate should give you pause. But Marquardt's inability to really add anything particularly new to his arsenal in such a short time, most notably in the realm of jiu-jitsu, should also cause a moment of reflection. Either way, I suspect this fight will be both a war of attrition and far more pleasing to the lovers of technical fighting than anything Keith Jardine or Thiago Silva can put together.

HT: MMA Mania

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THIS WILL PROBABLY BE THE BEST FIGHT OF UFC 103

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by VeeisAnimated on Aug 19, 2009 9:36 AM EDT reply actions

It could be a great fight … or it could be terrible. Nate is not afraid to make a fight boring if it works in his favor. I could see him playing it smart and stalling for standups from the top position rather than letting Maia work his sweep and submit magic from the bottom. This fight could turn into an ugly sprawl and brawl kickboxing match occasionally interspersed with some hideous lay & pray if/when Maia succeeds with one of his guard pulls.

by Steve4192 on Aug 19, 2009 1:46 PM EDT up reply actions

I am definitely looking forward to this fight the most on UFC 102. Besides having two top level Middleweights fighting each other, this fight has some sort of title ramification as well, or at the very least, the winner of this fight will fight Dan Henderson next.

by chrisbboy82 on Aug 19, 2009 2:09 PM EDT up reply actions

Sprawl and brawl.

I’m sure this will look something like Hendo vs Palhares, at least from a style perspective. It’s no surprise what either guy is gonna do. Maia will probably get Nate into a couple rough positions, but Nate will probably be able to get out of them with technique and/or power. I am pulling for Nate, cause I’d love to see a rematch with Anderson to see just how far he’s progressed since their first fight. However, if Maia wins, I wouldn’t be too upset. He’s different than Leites, and I’m sure he won’t resort to a flop game if given the chance to fight Silva.

I love me some Sexyama!

by pud333 on Aug 19, 2009 9:36 AM EDT reply actions

One big difference is Palhares is more of an aggressive power takedown guy and that played right into Hendo’s hands, whereas Maia is more of a passive tricky guard pull and sweep guy. He is more than willing to take a sprawl attempt and turn it into a guard pull with him on the bottom. Palhares eventually tried that, but only after he was too gassed to try anything else.

by Steve4192 on Aug 19, 2009 1:50 PM EDT up reply actions

I really think Nate takes this one… Maia is an incredible grappler but its not like Nate is unfamiliar to jiu jitsu, he was the king of pancrase and is either brown or black belt right now. i think he has a power advantage, striking advantage, and experience advantage. He also is coming out of Jackson’s camp, so i think he has every advantage except for grappling. Short of Maia pulling off what he did to Sonnen again, i see nate taking this

by Austin Martin on Aug 19, 2009 9:51 AM EDT reply actions

"and is either brown or black belt right now."

he’s been a black belt for quite some time.

by Scott Haber on Aug 19, 2009 10:02 AM EDT up reply actions

yeah i knew that he was distinguished

because i remember Shane Carwin saying that he was originally training bjj under nate. thanks.

by Austin Martin on Aug 19, 2009 10:27 AM EDT up reply actions

sorry to reply to myself

but an article i read about nate said that despite his enormous size, he rarely actually weighs over 195… thats not that big for a MW, and would make him smaller than alves. I was incredibly surprised by this, he looks like he cuts from 205 or 210.

by Austin Martin on Aug 19, 2009 10:31 AM EDT up reply actions

Yes sir I think you are correct. Nate doesn’t need to be on the same level BJJ speaking as Maia to block his submission attempts. Hughes destroyed Gracie and no one would claim his BJJ is Gracie level, you can also look at Lesnar vs. Mir to see this principle in action. Maia has the vast majority of his submission wins due to some type of choke and i just don’t see someone as experienced as Nate being choked out by anyone, even a BJJ wizard like Maia.

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by ronniebonnie on Aug 19, 2009 10:58 AM EDT up reply actions

Hughes and Lesnar are both very good wrestlers (Lesnar nat. champ and Hughes all-America) and that is why they could handle their opponents the way they did.
Didn´t Kenny Florian lose to a RNC just recently? I don´t believe that “Nate doesn’t need to be on the same level BJJ speaking as Maia to block his submission attempts” These guys submit black belts every other day.

by David_ on Aug 19, 2009 11:37 AM EDT up reply actions

BJ has punching power to soften opponents up, something Maia has never shown. Being a wrestler is a good point and very relevant but i think Nate has shown good enough control.

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by ronniebonnie on Aug 19, 2009 12:58 PM EDT up reply actions

The scary thing about the Sonnen fight

was in addition to it being a tricky takedown, Maia basically landed with half the sub locked in. That means that if Marquardt gets caught by some unfamiliar judo style takedown, he might not have time to recover.

It’s like fighting a strong puncher: they can end it at any moment with one punch. Maia might be the only jiu-jitsu guy with the ability to do that while standing.

by Shaun32887 on Aug 19, 2009 2:20 PM EDT up reply actions

“But Marquardt’s inability to really add anything particularly new to his arsenal in such a short time, most notably in the realm of jiu-jitsu, should also cause a moment of reflection.”

It’s been six months since his last fight and he’s not exactly taking this fight on short notice. Plus, he’s a black belt in BJJ – certainly not at Maia’s level, but you know the old saw: there’s a difference between BJJ and BJJ when somebody is punching you in the face. And that’s where Nate has the advantage.

Though I do think he took some time off to work on his photoshop skills: