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

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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.

Punches

Johnson is know as a great striker with good hands, but he was unable to finish Dan Hardy in their fight.

Marquardt has KO power in his hands and eight knockout wins.

Johnson has never been knocked out while Marquardt's only knockout loss is to Anderson Silva.

Due to the fact that Marquardt has shown knockout power at middleweight I give him a slight edge when it comes to punching.

Kicks

Johnson is a Shansou kickboxer and has shown the ability to throw devastating kicks. He has trained under Cung Le and he did knock down Dan Hardy in their fight with a kick.

Marquardt does not throw that many kicks relying more on boxing in his stand up game.

The edge in kicks is clearly in Johnson's favor.

Wrestling

Johnson was a high school and junior college wrestling champion.

He won his fight with Dan Hardy by displaying superior wrestling ability, but in the fight before that he was out wrestled by Josh Koscheck

Marquardt has had trouble in the past with wrestlers but was able to out wrestle Dan Miller.

While both have had problems with wrestlers in their last fight both out wrestled their opponents. I give Marquardt a slight edge since Miller is a better wrestler than Hardy.

Submissions

Johnson has no wins by submission but does have two losses by submission.

The majority of Marquardt's wins are by submission. He holds a black belt in jiu-jitsu.

The edge in submissions is clearly in Marquardt's favor.

Quality of Opponents

Johnson has faced his toughest two opponents in his last two fights going 1-1.

Marquardt has been at the top of the middleweight division for years. He has had one title fight and a couple number one contender bouts.

Marquardt once again has a distinct advantage in this category.

Intangibles

Johnson has had trouble making weight in the past. This will be another tough test for Johnson, and he is the underdog and has much to gain with a win.

This will be Marquardt's first cut to the middleweight division which could be a problem. He is also the favorite to win which could present added pressure.

Also Marquardt's teammate and friend Georges St-Pierre is the current champion at 170 pounds.

This is a fight where there is little pressure on Johnson and he has a chance to add a second impressive win to his resume. I see a slight edge in the intangibles for him.