UFC: Nate 'The Great' Marquardt Has Been Released from the UFC

Dana White announced today that not only did former UFC Middleweight contender Nate "The Great" fail his medicals in order to compete against Rick Story at tomorrow's UFC on Versus in Pittsburgh next weekend, but he has also been released from the Ultimate Fighting Championship.

Why was he released?

What did he do to fail the medicals?

Did he aggravate Dana White in any way?

Nobody knows the answers at this time, although theories are already circulating without any confirmed statements from any party involved.

Rumors did circulate before the shocking news of Marquardt's termination that the doctor's deemed it unsafe for Marquardt to try and cut any more weight than what he had cut already in preparation for Story, who replaced an injured Anthony Johnson.

Had this not have happened, Marquardt would have been looking at his first fight since a UFC 128 unanimous decision win over Dan Miller--a win that helped Marquardt rebound from a November loss to Yushin Okami at UFC 122 in Germany.

Prior to that loss, Marquardt had racked up victories over the likes of Demian Maia, Rousimar Palhares, Wilson Gouveia and Martin Kampmann, wile losing in setbacks to Chael Sonnen, Thales Leites, and current UFC Middleweight monarch Anderson Silva.

Unknown is the direction in which Marquardt will go from here, but for now we know for certain one little fact:

Wherever he goes from here, it definitely will not lead him to a rematch with Anderson SIlva anytime soon.