Nate Marquardt on Chael Sonnen: "Everything that he does, I do better."

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It's been almost three years since Nate Marquardt lost his first title shot to Anderson Silva at UFC 73: Stacked. Silva ended Marquardt's night by TKO at 4:50 in the first round, and has kept the middleweight belt for over two years.

Since losing to Silva, Marquardt has gone 4-1 dropping his only contest over that span to Thales Leites via close split-decision at UFC 85. The Colorado native has completely changed his game over the past two years and has focused on making himself more of a complete fighter.

"Mentally I'm so much stronger," admitted Marquardt. "I have better stamina. I have better power. My ground game has gotten a lot better. My wrestling has gotten way better and just putting it all together. The main thing is my mindset going into these fights. I look for the finish every second of the fight. It doesn't matter if I'm on my back, if I'm on top, or if I'm on my feet. I'm so much more dangerous because of that."

A strong showing against Chael Sonnen (24-10) at UFC 109 could put Marquardt in a position to challenge for the middleweight title, where he would likely get his long-awaited rematch with Anderson Silva. Not one to overlook his next opponent, "The Great" plans to expose Sonnen's game and believes he has the knockout power to make it a short night.

"I definitely see things I can exploit in his game," said Marquardt. "I'm just trying to improve myself and do what I do best. Chael is coming into this fight seeing it as a huge opportunity. Right now I'm ranked number two in the world and he's number six in the world right now. You can't look past a guy like that. He's got great wrestling, good ground and pound and he's fought lots of guys. He's well-rounded and got a lot of experience. But, I've beat guys that have beaten him. Everything that he does, I do better. That's one of the main differences. That's what makes me number two in the world and him number six. I have knock out power. I haven't seen that power from him. He's a grinder, but I can grind too -- then I can knock you out. I want to get in there and continue to show the fans what I can do. I love to fight and that's what I want to do."