Nate Marquardt: Middleweight Contender or Pretender? Can He Ever Wear the Gold?

Nate “The Great” Marquardt has to be feeling good after making short work of fellow middleweight Rousimar Palhares at UFC Fight Night 22.

This was a fight that Marquardt really needed, after getting dominated by current division number one contender Chael Sonnen at UFC 109: Relentless.

Say what you will about the competition within the UFC’s middleweight division, but Marquardt has been one of those guys considered a top contender, yet has a long way to go before he captures UFC gold.

Marquardt has defeated talented fighters relatively recently in Martin Kampmann and Demian Maia, but few fans remember much about Maia these days outside of when he was utterly embarrassed by the middleweight champion Anderson “Spider” Silva.

The Great actually had a shot against the then recently crowned champion back at UFC 73 in July of 2007.

There was little argument that Marquardt deserved a shot at this time: he was one of the most dominant fighters in the Japan based organization Pancrase and started off his UFC career with four straight victories, all of which were quite definitive.

However, there would be no fairy tale ending for Marquardt here, as Silva overwhelmed the challenger from the opening bell, earning a TKO victory with ten seconds remaining in the first round.

While Marquardt is an upper echelon talent, it is hard to envision him dethroning any of the top contenders within the division.

We saw what happened against Sonnen.

We saw what happened against Silva, granted that was some time ago.

Now throw Jake Shields and Vitor Belfort into the mix, and one begins to wonder if Marquardt is really built to be a middleweight champion anytime soon.

Putting his character flaws aside, Shields is an excellent fighter.  His wrestling is impeccable, competing in the sport since the age of 9 and earning two time All American honors from Cuesta College.

His jiu-jitsu is top notch as well, training religiously with Cesar Gracie since 2001.

If Shields brings his A game, it is easy to envision him with a title shot within the next six months to a year.

And let us not forget about Vitor Belfort.  Belfort was the number one contender for the belt heading into UFC 112, but an untimely shoulder injury opened the door for the outspoken underdog Chael Sonnen.

While Sonnen’s impressive display earned him an immediate rematch, a noticeable number of fans were pining to see Belfort get his shot, or at least a number one contender bout between Belfort and Sonnen.

Belfort is not without his controversy either, as he tested positive for a banned substance after his fight with Dan Henderson.

On this note, it is worth mentioning that both Shields and Silva dominated Henderson in their respective one on one match ups.

Nevertheless, Belfort is no pushover.  He has defeated Wanderlei Silva, and most recently made short work of Rich Franklin.

It is also tough to knock the credentials of “The Phenom”.  He has a black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and Judo, as well as a blue belt in Shotokan Karate.

His boxing skills are above par as well, evidenced by 13 of his 19 victories coming by way of knockout.   

For Marquardt to get a title shot, he most likely will need a victory against Belfort, Shields, or Sonnen.

None of which seems particularly likely, and even then, it is hard to fathom Marquardt executing an effective enough game plan to seal a victory against Silva.

The bottom line is that while Nate Marquardt is certainly very good, he is a long ways from great right now.