UFC 122: Yushin Okami Relevant Win or Lose Thanks to the Kick to the Face

Middleweight contenders Yushin Okami and Nate Marquardt will face off this Saturday for a chance to meet the UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva—that is, as long as Silva gets past his own test against Vitor Belfort on February 5th.

Okami and Marquardt have both previously faced Silva, and while both of the fights ended in a similar fashion, the results were quite different.

In the main event of UFC 73, Silva defended his title against Marquardt, defeating him via TKO in the first round. It was the first defense of his UFC title.

Five fights and a year and a half earlier, Silva faced Okami in the first round of the Rumble On the Rock Welterweight Tournament, before either fighter had entered the UFC. Silva also knocked Okami out in the first round, but it was with an up-kick while both fighters were on the ground. It was an impressive and vicious strike, but it was clearly illegal in MMA's unified rules and Okami was deemed the winner by disqualification.

13 fights for Silva later, it is still the last loss on his record and still goes unavenged. Out of all four of Silva's losses, it is also the only one that he can still logically avenge.

Back in Pride Fighting Championships, Silva lost twice by a couple of upset submissions to smaller Japanese fighters Daiju Takase and Ryo Chonan. However, neither fighter is employed by the UFC, nor do they even fight at middleweight. Those losses will likely just have to remain a part of the past.

Silva's first loss was in his professional debut to a Brazilian fighter named Luiz Azeredo, who recently made his successful debut in the Bellator lightweight division. Very little chance fate finds those two in the ring together again, also.

So, if Silva ever plans to correct any of his pre-UFC wrongs, it will have to be at the expense of Okami.

Marquardt is about a 2-1 favorite to beat Okami, but win or lose for the Japanese standout, the UFC will be keeping him around.

If Silva and Okami both lose their upcoming main events, what better opponent could there be for the fallen champion than to start his comeback against the previous man to beat him. It would be a major fight for Okami, something that is rarely guaranteed to a fighter after a loss.

If they both win their upcoming bouts, the two meeting will be a tremendous main event that fans have been requesting for some time. Certainly Okami will be a deserving challenger and the champ would get a chance to rectify a past mistake.

If only Okami loses, he has to feel like the UFC will keep him around just in case Silva loses his title anytime soon. Getting brutally knocked out by an illegal kick from Silva back in January of 2006 must have felt awful, physically and emotionally, but these days it is sort of like a safety net protecting Okami from unemployment.

Of course, Okami scoring numerous wins over quality opponents is what keeps him prospering in the dangerous UFC waters, but he can always fall back on the fact that he has an unavenged win over the most dominant UFC champion of all time.

Kind of like how Frank Mir will continue to be employed by the UFC no matter what because the UFC knows they would make a bundle off of a third fight between him and Brock Lesnar, and it would likely springboard Lesnar into another moneymaker for the company.

So, whether Okami earns his shot at the belt or falls just a bit short, he can always count on one more payday due to getting kicked in the face nearly five years ago.