UFC 122 – Nate Marquardt “Step it up”

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It’s time for Nate “The Great” Marquardt to step it up. Not taking anything away from the Jackson’s Submission Fighting-trained middleweight, but he has been at his current contender status for years. If he is going to take the next step and become a championship-level fighter, there is no better time to do that than right now.

“The Great” is now (30-9-2) and only two months removed from his 1st round TKO victory over submission ace Rousimar Palhares at UFC Fight Night 22 from Austin, Texas, which was his fourth victory in his last five fights. That is impressive for some, but for Marquardt it is expected. Some fighters work for years to climb through their divisional ranks to earn a title shot. Marquardt has been there already, a UFC 73 TKO loss against current champion Anderson Silva, however he will earn a second UFC title appearance with a victory over Yushin Okami this Saturday in the UFC 122 main event from Germany.

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The three-time King of Pancrase veteran has defeated some of the best fighters in the middleweight division, including Martin Kampmann and Demian Maia over the past two plus years, but there are still critics who doubt that Marquardt has what it takes to be a world champion. With that being said, his next step is to prove those doubters wrong and get past Yushin Okami, who is another above average mixed martial artist that seems to be spinning his wheels in the 185-pound division, much the same as Marquardt.

In order for him to get past Okami, he must come out from the opening bell and jump on Okami early. Marquardt has some heavy hands and knockout power, but he must be careful against the technically sound Okami. If he were to get careless from the standing position and drop his guard, Okami is smart enough to make him pay.

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Marquardt’s best bet against Okami may be to try and take the action to the ground. If he is able to secure and convert a takedown against Okami, he should be able to score some major points by utilizing his solid grappling and ground and pound game. Okami is familiar with fighting from his back; however his strengths are not on the ground but instead from the standing position. Putting Okami on his back not only allows Marquardt to score points, but also allows him to work on Okami’s sometimes-questionable stamina.

The opportunity has presented itself once again for Nate Marquardt, but it is really up to him to take full advantage of it. A talented fighter no doubt, but in order to shake his gatekeeper status and make his mark as a UFC middleweight, he will have to take it to Okami. If he does just that, his work will be far from over; he must then get by either current champion Anderson Silva or current number one contender Vitor Belfort. When he completes those two tasks, nobody will be able to doubt his legitimacy; and he will finally have taken the next step in maintaining that championship-level.

By Nick Russell
ProFighting-fans.com Senior MMA Staff Writer