Marquardt Granted Title Shot With Anderson Silva

Twist of Lemon · 02-15-2007, 11:06 AM

Quote:

UFC president Dana White has made good on a promise. Undefeated middleweight contender Nate Marquardt (25-6-2 MMA, 4-0 UFC) has been granted a title shot with current UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva (17-4, MMA, 3-0 UFC), according to a very reliable UFCjunkie.com source close to one of the fighters.

The title shot is expected to take place in June â€” possibly at UFC 72 â€” on a card that might also feature the much-anticipated rubber match of Georges St. Pierre vs. Matt Hughes (assuming St. Pierre successfully defends his title against Matt Serra at UFC 69).

In a post-UFC Fight Night 8 press conference, White promised that Marquardt would get a title shot sometime in 2007. The announcement came after Marquardtâ€™s dominating unanimous-decision victory over Dean Lister. The bout was originally billed as the nightâ€™s main event but didnâ€™t even end up making the televised portion of the broadcast. (At the time, a UFCjunkie.com source told us the decision was Spike TVâ€™s and not the UFCâ€™s.)

The 27-year-old Marquardt, who trains with both the Team Jackson and High Altitude camps, is a seven-time King of Pancrase champion who joined the UFC in 2005. In his UFC debut, he posted a unanimous-decision victory over Ivan Salaverry at UFC Fight Night 1. He followed up that win with another unanimous-decision victory over Joe Doerksen (UFC 58) and a second-round submission victory over Crafton Wallace at the â€œOrtiz vs. Shamrock IIIâ€ Spike TV special.

Although Marquardt likely earned the title shot on merit alone, he had the added benefit of being scheduled perfectly. Marquardt fought on Jan. 25, and Silva on Feb. 3. The other top middleweight contenders â€” Rich Franklin, Mike Swick and Jason MacDonald, for example â€” will all be tied up with bouts in March and April. That would leave them little time to recover for a June fight with Silva.

Regardless, this bout will surely be the toughest test that Marquardt has faced to date in the UFC.

Silva, who defeated Chris Leben with a first-round KO in his UFC debut (UFC Fight Night 5), went on to defeat Rich Franklin at UFC 64 to win the middleweight belt. The victory â€” a first-round TKO â€” was shocking to many UFC fans, who seemed to consider Franklin largely invincible.

In his most recent fight, Silva easily defeated Travis Lutter with a second-round submission at UFC 67.

If there were one lesson future opponents could have learned from the fight, itâ€™s that fighters should be careful not to disrespect Silva. Lutter, after all, failed to make weight for the fight (which forced the UFC to change it to a non-title bout), and immediately afterward, Silva said that Lutter had disrespected himself, the UFC, and perhaps most importantly, Silva himself.

Silva appeared to vent his anger quite clearly in the next dayâ€™s fight.

In any manner, UFCjunkie.com will report additional information about this bout as it becomes known.

Wow, this came out of left feild for me...kinda. I was expecting Rich to be the next title shot after he possibly beats J.Mac at 68. But this is a pretty good fight to just suprising they handed it to him so soon.

Dmac · 02-15-2007, 11:53 AM

Nate has been expecting a shot for a while and to be honest has deserved it as well, this will be tough for him but I don't know, he's a big guy, he may just have a chance.

tapout189 · 02-15-2007, 05:26 PM

they always throw the middleweight guys title shots too early....look @ edwin dewees, nate quarry, ect... Outta be interesting to see him against Silva, personally i'm just waiting for swick or franklin to take it.

WackoJako · 02-15-2007, 09:46 PM

Anderson Silva is going to squash this guy. Only realy interesting thing about this is whether Silva KO's him or taps him out.

Zar333 · 02-16-2007, 01:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tapout189

they always throw the middleweight guys title shots too early....look @ edwin dewees, nate quarry, ect... Outta be interesting to see him against Silva, personally i'm just waiting for swick or franklin to take it.

I wouldn't call this to soon at all. He has been fighting in Pancrase for years, and won his four fights in the UFC including fights against Ivan Salaverry, Joe Doerksen and Dean Lister, and has a 25-6 and 2 record.

He simply hasn't had the exposure guys like Swick have so he isn't commonly seen as a contender. Plus he is a strong dude, so Silva may have some troupble muscling him in the clinch.

Don't get me wrong I think Silva will take it, but only if he shows better takedown defense then he did against Lutter. I just think this is going to be a much better fight then people have in mind.

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Marquardt Granted Title Shot With Anderson Silva

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