UFC on Versus 4: Nate Marquardt Drops Out, What Does This Mean for Rick Story?

It's true, folks.

The UFC has had to scrap yet another main event; Nate Marquardt was not medically cleared to fight tomorrow night.

This news leaves Rick Story in an awkward and unfortunate position.

Story fought less than a month ago at UFC 130, defeating Thiago Alves by unanimous decision.

Coming off that victory, Rick was offered the chance to fight Marquardt, replacing an injured Anthony Johnson.

It was a high risk fight for him to take, what with such a short turn around, but the potential rewards were immense.

A win over Marquardt would have put Story no more than one fight away from a title shot, but now he is fighting Charlie Brennenan. A win over Charlie will not have nearly the same effect that a win over Marquardt would have.

In fact, Brennenan has basically usurped the position that Story was previously in.

Before, Story was doing the UFC a favor by being a replacement fighter, and he was facing a fighter many didn't think he could beat.

Now, that description matches Charlie much more than it does Rick, and Rick is the fighter with all the pressure on him.

Really, no matter how this fight goes down, the outcome for Story isn't that great. If he wins, big deal, he's expected to win now that he is facing a relatively unknown fighter. If he loses, all the momentum he built by defeating Thiago Alves is gone.

Then there's the risk of injury to consider. Rick probably isn't totally healed up from the beating he took against Thiago, so the possibility of sustaining an injury by fighting again this soon is significant.

It's unfortunate, but what was initially a "high risk, high reward" situation for Story has just become exclusively high risk.