UFC 122 Fight Card: What Nate Marquardt Must Do to Beat Yushin Okami

If you've seen the trailer for UFC 122, you know how the story of the Nate Marquardt-Yushin Okami fight goes.

They've made a name for themselves—a process that did involve both of them dropping decisions to Chael Sonnen—in the UFC Middleweight Division, and now recent wins over Mark Munoz and Rousimar Palhares have elevated these two fighters to elite-level status in the 185-pound class.

Now the only thing standing between them and the Middleweight Championship—regardless of whether it's Vitor Belfort or Anderson Silva holding it after UFC 126 on Super Bowl weekend—is each other.

So let's not ramble on any longer, and allow me to uncharacteristically refrain from my signature digressions away from the point of my case this time around.

What does Nate Marquardt have to do to not only clinch his place as the new No. 1 contender to the Middleweight throne, but also evade the risk of being perceived as a Middleweight gatekeeper?

He's said before that he knows that for a guy who is widely seen as a wrestler and a kickboxer, the man's base is in the art of judo.

In essence, being a wrestler and a kickboxer with a judo base makes for a pretty well-rounded fighter, and one that has only tasted a knockout once in his career.

So what does Marquardt need to do in order to beat Okami in every aspect of the game?

Well, defensively speaking, the key is takedown defense.

That's been a recent problem for Nate, who seemed to be taken down at will by Sonnen in their outing, and with Okami training at Team Quest for this fight, it could be a problem that Okami presents.

I can't yet say for certain whether Marquardt will be the less superior striker or the more superior striker, but even if he can't seem to rock Okami with a shot, he still needs to use his own striking to slow him down on the feet.

If Marquardt is the one that gets it to the ground, that's excellent for him and trouble for Okami because there is a plethora of guys at Middleweight who can do some sick damage if they can get you on the ground, and Marquardt is one of them.

He can't hold down Okami until the ref stands them up, though; he has to work towards getting a full mount, or if they're against the cage, he has to be quick to rain down with a hailstorm of punches to any exposed area of Okami.

If Okami can't scramble his way back to the feet, he'll find himself potentially trapped in Marquardt's mount, but if Marquardt gets his back, that's when Okami is as good as finished.

Marquardt is capable of knocking people out whenever he can get a good shot in, but his bread and butter is his Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu mastery.

I mean, you're talking about a guy who gave Shane Carwin a purple belt in BJJ and has put away some rather impressive BJJ guys away with it—not to mention he exposed the one major flaw in Demian Maia's game when he knocked him out at UFC 102.

If he can do the same to Okami, or better yet, if he can somehow get the fight to the ground and sink in a hold that hands Okami the first submission loss of his career, he'll be one finish away from finally becoming UFC Middleweight Champion.

Dale De Souza is a Man on Fire—or as the regulars of MMA writing call it, an “Analyst”—for Bleacher Report MMA, as well as a contributor to Sprawl-N-Brawl MMA, RealSportsNet, Sports Haze and Hit The Ropes MMA.

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