UFC 128 Fight Card: Will There Come a Day When Nate Marquardt Wears UFC Gold?

Nick CaronMar 18, 2011

It is rare to find a fighter who has been unanimously considered “elite” in his weight class within the Ultimate Fighting Championship for years, but has never reached the top of the mountain.

Becoming a champion isn’t something that happens for everyone, and as Nate Marquardt moves closer to his 12th year of professional fighting, it’s looking increasingly less likely that he’ll ever wear UFC gold.

Marquardt made his MMA debut in April 1999 and would go on to win each of the first six fights of his career before making the move to the Japanese-based Pancrase organization. His debut was spoiled by Genki Sudo who submitted him with an arm bar.

He returned to the promotion six months later to participate in the Pancrase Middleweight Elimination Tournament. The winner of the tournament would be crowned the first middleweight King of Pancrase.

After knocking out Daiju Takase in the first round, Nate went on to outlast both Shonie Carter and Kiuma Kunioku in the same night to become the King of Pancrase middleweight champion.

The division was extremely competitive and Marquardt soon saw himself in some of the best wars in his career. After fighting to a draw with Kunioku less than three months after winning the title, Marquardt eventually lost the title to him in their third fight that took place in December 2001.

“The Great” lived up to his name, though, and would not be denied the championship belt that he worked so hard to achieve. A year later, he won the title back from Kunioku in the fourth and final bout between the two champions.

After losing the title and winning it back one more time, Marquardt made his final appearance in Pancrase when he defeated Izuru Takeuchi in May 2005. When it was all said and done, Marquardt had set the standard in the Pancrase middleweight division as a seven-time champion who took on all comers.

In triumphant fashion, Marquardt was able to vacate the Pancrase Middleweight Championship. We would later find out that his next fight would be for the UFC in Las Vegas—the first time Marquardt had ever competed in the city.

Nate dominated Ivan Salaverry in the fight and won a unanimous decision. However, controversy arose when Marquardt’s post-fight drug test showed high levels of nandrolone. The test led to a six month suspension that was later reduced to five months. Marquardt maintains that used only over-the-counter supplements when preparing for the fight.

Joe Doerksen was his next opponent, one in which Nate earned another unanimous decision as he improved his UFC record to 2-0. In the post-fight interview, Marquardt revealed his goal of winning the UFC middleweight championship from then-champion, Rich Franklin.

After submitting Crafton Wallace and winning a dominating decision over Dean Lister, Nate “The Great” had earned himself a chance to prove that greatness. The next time he stepped into the cage, it would be against the man who had become the top middleweight in the world, Anderson Silva.

At 4-0 in the UFC, Marquardt was facing a man who was simply fighting on another planet at the time. Marquardt put up a good effort, but eventually fell by TKO to the man who many now believe to be the greatest fighter in the history of the sport.

Since that night, Marquardt’s run in the UFC has been a roller coaster-like ride, filled with ups and downs. His five wins have been accompanied with three losses in the cage.

The wins have been impressive ones against great talent including Martin Kampmann, Demian Maia, and Jeremy Horn. In addition, the first of the three losses since the Silva fight came in questionable fashion in a fight he clearly dominated, but had two points taken away in, against Thales Leites.

Going into 2010, Marquardt was on a three fight win streak and looked to be well on his way to earning a rematch against “The Spider.” Unfortunately, it was a year that the former Pancrase champion would rather forget.

His victory over Rousimar Palhares was sandwiched by devastating losses to Chael Sonnen and Yushin Okami. While he wasn’t finished in either fight, a win in either would have secured Marquardt as the No. 1 contender for the UFC Middleweight Championship.

But while other fighters may fold after discouraging losses like these, Nate Marquardt has always been able to to rise to the occasion. His persistence and always-improving technique are something that should be admired by fans and fighters alike.

Simply improving his technique wasn’t enough for Marquardt, though. In a recent interview with SI.com’s Ben Fowlkes, Nate spoke about also improving the mental aspect of his game.

"I kind of realized that after my last fight, I needed to make a change," Marquardt admitted. "I needed to make some mental changes, and I did."

His coach, Trevor Wittman, agreed and has seen the change first-hand.

"I told him, 'You have to get all these people out of your mind,' " Wittman said. "'Get the press out of your mind. If you lose, deal with the loss. You're only as good as your last fight, so get to your next fight and don't worry about what anyone else thinks.' "

Part of this means less interviews for Nate leading up to this very important fight at UFC 128.

"Journalists, they tend to ask the same questions, a lot of yes or no questions, and they kind of infer something when they ask the question," Marquardt explained. "That's like someone telling you something over and over, and that can affect you mentally.”

It’s this new commitment to himself that makes me believe that, even at 31 years old, Nate “The Great” has not yet seen his best days.

As his trainer said, "His thing is, man, he's so talented. If he goes out there and does his thing and ignores all the other stuff, Nate is a great fighter."

The truth is that, other than perhaps the greatest fighter of all time, Anderson Silva, Nate Marquardt may very well be the most physically talented middleweight in the world.

He is a black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, a second degree black belt in Jujutsu, and possesses some of the best standup skills in the business. In 42 professional fights, Marquardt has only ever been knocked out once—and it was by Anderson Silva.

At UFC 128, Nate will step into the cage against Dan Miller, who will be replacing Yoshihiro Akiyama. Akiyama backed out of the fight last week after the horrific tragedies that occurred in his home country of Japan.

Instead, his opponent will be Dan Miller, who has put together a two fight win streak going into the event. Miller is Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu expert, but does not possess the same kind of standup threat that Akiyama presented. In addition, his takedown ability is nothing near what we saw from either Chael Sonnen or Yushin Okami in their wins over Marquardt.

If Marquardt can avoid the takedown attempts that will certainly come from Miller, this could very well be the start to a very important year for the former No. 1 contender. A knockout or submission victory would be great for his confidence and should lead to another high-profile fight later this year.

All Marquardt needs is a chance and he absolutely has the skills to be the man to beat Anderson Silva. But with Silva’s seeming desire to face new competition in the light heavyweight division, we may see the title vacated at some point. In that case, Nate’s chances of holding UFC gold suddenly look significantly better.

But in order for him to have a chance at the title, Marquardt is going to have to get back in the discussion first. His losses to Yushin Okami and Chael Sonnen have—at least temporarily—derailed what appeared to be a very likely eventual rematch against Silva.

UFC President, Dana White, publicly criticized Marquardt for being a fighter that doesn’t show up for big fights. His chance to prove Dana and the rest of his doubters wrong starts this weekend against Dan Miller.

The mental aspect of the game is something that few fighters ever grasp and even fewer fighters ever master. But judging by his comments leading up to this fight, Nate Marquardt understands that a true champion must be as strong mentally as he is physically.

The physical aspect of Marquardt’s game is not questioned—we’re just waiting to see the mental side catch up.