Nate Marquardt's Long Road Ahead
by Michael Rome on Aug 25, 2009 12:35 PM EDT
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The fight between Demian Maia and Nate Marquardt this weekend is ostensibly for the number one contender position at middleweight, but in reality this is a one-sided contender's match. If Maia wins he will immediately be groomed for a shot after Henderson, but if Nate wins, I have significant doubts he will get a shot any time soon.
If Nate wins, Dan Henderson will get the next shot, probably in November or December. Nate would probably have to fight again inbetween. After that fight, Anderson will probably be much more interested in "money fights" against top light heavyweights and heavyweights, and Nate will probably have to fight yet again. The problem is that when you constantly fight top contenders, all but the most elite are bound to lose, and if Nate loses again he can wave his title hopes goodbye for another few years.
Unfortunately for Nate Marquardt, he got his title shot before he really hit his stride as a fighter. I still believe Anderson would beat him, but it would be a closer fight now. Even if he keeps winning spectacularly, the odds of him getting another fight with Anderson are low. He will probably have to bide his time until either Anderson drops the title, or a contender for Anderson gets injured and they need a replacement. Such are the breaks in an industry that lives and dies on pay per view.
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I’d rather see Anderson take “interesting” fights at LHW or HW for now. Henderson vs. the winner of Maia/Marquardt would be an amazing fight and better than Hendo/Silva.
I’d rather Silva truly clean out the MW division first and properly vacate his title. Maia and Okami are still there. Now if Maia loses Marquardt and Okami loses to Sonnen, then I think Silva should merely have to beat Henderson again before leaving the division. Otherwise, both are fighters who should be allowed to fight for the title.
Kenny Florian had finished FIVE out of SIX fights in order to reach another title shot.
Marquardt really needs to convince fans and the UFC that he deserves another title shot he may lose. Beating Maia is not necessarily enough, but beating AND stopping Henderson would really make a strong argument for him. Good luck on the long road back. The same more or less applies to Dan Henderson.
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It really is going to be a tough road ahead for Marquardt. Unless a fighter is a draw (i.e. Rampage, Couture), it is very difficult to get a title rematch. It took YEARS for a fighter like Diego Sanchez to even get a Title shot, and he had to do it at Lightweight. Josh Koscheck has been with the UFC for years and hasn’t even fought for a title yet. Fitch and even Machida had to have many wins in a row to get a title shot. Marquardt is a very good Middleweight, but unless he suddenly becomes incredibly marketable or beats Maia and his next opponent in spectacular fashion, he will have a long road to a title shot ahead of him.
by chrisbboy82 on Aug 25, 2009 12:54 PM EDT up reply actions
koscheck hasn't fought for a title because he keeps losing
by Austin Martin on Aug 25, 2009 12:57 PM EDT up reply actions
good point, poor examples
Diego and Koscheck are both TUF stars that the UFC is eager to pop into title shots. Note how quickly Diego gets a titleshot at LW after two decision wins in the division.
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Diego
is one of my favorite fighters, and his fight against Clay was one of the best of the year, but the UFC isn’t doing itself any favors by not having him fight Gray Maynard first, instead of Gray fighting Huerta. Or at least Diego vs. Edgar or Griffin. His main weakness has always been defensive wrestling against bigger wrestlers, and the only way to see if that is any different at 155 is to have him fight a prolific wrestling based contender in the division. If he can’t beat one of those guys, can he really hang with BJ?
by Austin Martin on Aug 25, 2009 1:14 PM EDT up reply actions
they just want a title fight that will draw eyeballs
and Diego is a bigger draw than Maynard by a factor of, oh, 10?
If he loses to Maynard, then they’re in trouble.
This way they get one guaranteed high interest title fight — BJ vs Diego and have the chance via Huerta vs Maynard to raise the profile of their #1 contender.
Huerta’s got it in his power to fuck everything up by beating Maynard, but if he does that, I’d expect him to resign with the UFC and get a title shot quickly.
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I think all of these events are gonna go down sooner than later
I see Silva actually giving up his title within the next month or so, and Henderson vs Maia/Marquardt being the new titel fight. ANd that is a helluva fight. Silva has 3 fights left, he wants to make them doozys.
The only thing that might hold everything up, is if the UFC decides to play a little hardball with Silva. If he abdicates his title, the champions clause no longer applies. Are the UFC really going to promote the hell out of a guy who only has 3 fights left and then can leave with all that press to go fight Roy Jones and make alot of money that the UFC cannot get a piece of? This is the only factor that leads me to belive that its 50/50 if Marquardt wins against Maia that he gets a title shot.
by Nick Travaglini on Aug 25, 2009 12:53 PM EDT reply actions
Marquardt
Has a much better chance than Fitch of getting a shot, because Fitch just uses his incredible grappling to decision people. Nates been finishing fights and if he finishes Maia convincingly I think he’ll get the shot after Dan, although i do again i’d love to see Dan vs. Nate for the title shot, that would be a war
Marquardt finished . . .
Jeremy Horn – MMA journeyman well past his peak fighting anybody on short notice.
Kampmann – solid win against a MW who easily transitioned to WW.
Wilson Gouveia – solid win
Leites – decision loss/victory . . . whatever
Who has Marquardt fought?
Nate has improved, but IthinkKNOW Anderson has too.
- FRANKIE (my edit)
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by VeeisAnimated on Aug 25, 2009 2:08 PM EDT up reply actions
Why not have silva fight one more lhw while hendo fights winner of Maia/marqardt for #1 contendor spot
by kanodogg on Aug 25, 2009 1:21 PM EDT via mobile reply actions
Because that would deflate a legit title challenger unnecessarily.
Hendo gets the next shot and then the winner of Maia v Marquardt. Who is next in order? Can’t see who would be next, so why destroy yet another contender?
Yeah but when you have contendors just for the sake of contendors you get shit like cote and leites
by kanodogg on Aug 25, 2009 2:36 PM EDT via mobile up reply actions
because he keeps getting injured. Remember Cote more or less replaced him after he broke his hands during training.
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by VeeisAnimated on Aug 25, 2009 2:10 PM EDT up reply actions
Nate is probably 2 wins away from a title shot, if he beats Maia he’ll probably get the winner of Okami/Sonnen and if he wins that then he’d be without a doubt the number 1 contender. Nate is also a different fighter from the first Silva fight, the guy is a killer now he’s take his technical striking to another level and learned to choose when to be aggressive and go for the kill he’s Silva’s biggest threat at MW imo.
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