Nate Marquardt vs. Chael Sonnen Likely for UFC 110 in Australia
Middleweight contender Nate Marquadt will take on Chael Sonnen in February at UFC 110 in Austalia, according to Sportsnet.ca, which reports that bout agreements are pending for the matchup.
A fight between Marquardt and Dan Henderson was expected to take place early next year to determine a top-contender to fight the winner of an upcoming matchup between champ Anderson Silva and Vitor Belfort, but Henderson, who became a free agent following his July knockout of Michael Bisping, remains unsigned as he mulls over offers from both the UFC and Strikeforce and Marquardt and the UFC have been forced to move on without him.
Marquardt (29-8-2), a former King of Pancrase, began his UFC career with four-straight wins to earn a title shot, but suffered a first-round knockout to Silva in 2007. He’s remaining in title contention by winning four of his last five since the loss, dropping a controversial decision to Thales Leites while earning wins over the likes of Martin Kampmann and Demian Maia.
Sonnen (24-10-1) returned to the UFC in 2009 after earning back-to-back wins in the WEC, dropping his UFC debut against Demian Maia in February before rebounding with two-straight victories over Dan Miller and Yushin Okami.
UFC 110, which takes place on February 20 at the Acer Arena in Sydney, also includes Wanderlei Silva vs. Yoshihiro Akiyama, Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic vs. Ben Rothwell, and Stephan Bonnar vs. Krzysztof Soszynski.
For the latest UFC 110 rumors check out the MMAFrenzy.com UFC rumors section.
Pictured: Nate Marquardt
Tags: Chael Sonnen, Nate Marquardt
Loading ...
I like Marquardt and I like Sonnen, but since when did Nate Marquardt start fighting losers to Demian Maia? Isn’t that a regression?
Yes but Sonnen beat okami who beat silva who beat nate soooo… jk ya this does seem like a bit of step down for Nate seeing as how he went from a title shot to a fight with Hendo to now sonnen. At least after this fight there should be no question in Nate’s #1 contendership status. Unless Dan comes back.
Ive got Nate by KO in this one he’s to good to fall for Chael’s inside leg kick, 1,2 combo for an entire fight. But his wrestling better be on point.
Jerod, I agree with you 100%. The middleweight division is a mess right now.
Given the number of people who were calling for an Okami title shot…I think it makes a lot of sense. Remember, when Hendo was in the UFC a lot of you all were saying Marquardt needed to fight him before he got a title shot. Now that he;s gone, I guess Marquardt gets to fight the guy who beat Okami. Makes sense to me.
Good call UFCmanz
Thats some BULL****. Nate deserves a lil more respect than a fight with Chael Sonnen. Nate vs. Vitor would be nice
I like the idea of Nate vs. Vitor. In fact, I like that idea very much so. Clearly, Nate has put himself in line for another title shot and I think the big KO of Rick Franklin puts Vitor right there too. And if Anderson is going to be on the shelf for awhile or even in a different weight class, let Nate and Vitor hook’em up. Chael’s last fight was a prelim and Vitor’s last fight was a main event. I think Nate and Vitor is a more logical choice.
Excellent call, MMAster T, excellent call.
Interesting fight for sure. Both guys are very good but Nate has the edge on striking for sure. Chael Sonnen has lots of experience and has impressinve cage command and octagon control with improved stand-up but still not so good that he’ll threaten someone like Nate.
I would have liked to see Marquardt fight Anderson next but hey….
Chael Sonnen has a huge opportunity here if he can catch Marquardt in a sub or grind out a decision it’ll be a big statement for sure.
I think that Chael Sonnen’s experience and grappling skills should be his main focus for this fight because he does not want to stand with a guy like Marquardt who has sick striking skills and sick combos with ko power. Although Nate has a very good dround game as well i feel that Sonnen has the edge there because the dude trains with Team Quest who are known for ther “Couture” and “Hendo” like grappling techniques.
Overall i think that Nate has the edge because he’s stronger,younger,bigger and can hang with Sonnen’s ground game which would force a striking style fight where Marquardt will mostly likely score a tko or ko victory.
This fight is very interesting because to be honest i can’t really pick somone winning in any specific form because i feel both guys are very well rounded but since Nate is younger,stronger and has better cardio i think that he will score a tko in the late 2nd or 3rd.
Nate Marquardt via tko or ko
You really think Sonnen could submit Nate? It seems a bit absurd to me, given that Sonnen has shown piss-poor sub defense, whereas Nate is a very legit BJJ black belt, and has only been submitted once in his career (and that was many years ago to Almeida, who’s an even more-legit BJJ black belt).
Sonnen’s wrestling may be better than Nate’s, but there’s no way he submits Nate. People who have only seen Nate’s recent fights make him out to be some sort of striker with no ground game, because he hasn’t had to use his BJJ much lately. He’s a far better grappler than he is a striker, and if Nate gets on top of Sonnen, he’ll submit him easily.
Nate is the 7 time KOP so i’m well aware of his overall skill-set. Sonnen i think is a better ground fighter than most people give him credit for, he has just as much if not more experience than Nate and is very capable of scoring a sub on Nate because Sonnen has rolled with the best of ‘em. I know Nate has a good ground game also but he’s not impossible to beat, no way he’s earned that title not even close.
Sorry Marvel but I just dont see Sonnen subbing Nate. Marquardt is a BJJ black belt who runs his own MMA academy. the guy has more submission victories than he has TKO’s and decisions combined. He subbed Jermemy Horn who in turn has submitted Sonnen twice. Nate has 2 sub losses in 39 fights Sonnen has 7 in 35 fights. Also you said Sonnen has more expeirence but Id say its pretty even as Nate started fighting back in 99 whereas Chael started in 02.
And as far as training wise they are both pretty equal with Sonnen at Quest and Nate at Jackson’s submission fighting. They are both experienced well rounded fighters there is no doubt about that, but I would have to give the edge to Nate in all the areas you pointed out my friend. Your right though, Nate isnt impossible to beat. Noone is, but hes proved that unless your Anderson Silva its not easy.
nates the best fighter in the whole divison imo… why don’t they let him fight everyone else at once so we can end this BS MW title crap..
Nate should sit out. With Henderson singing (yes that’s correct) with strikeforce, he has nothing to lose. If (and that’s a big if), he he shouldn’t win, that’s a big climb up the ladder again.
Wow, didn’t know Henderson was a singer, or that Strikeforce was a concert promoter, too, I thought they just did MMA.
Oh, and since you probably meant “signing” that has not been confirmed, in fact the most recent report on that situation is a denial by Henderson.
Wow.
Apparently Dana White came home and found Nate Marquardt in bed with his wife or some sh!t like that, because Marquardt went from a promised 185 title shot to a fight with Hendo for a 185 title shot to a fight with the last WEC 185 champion, sort of.
And no mention of where Marquardt will stand in the 185 ranks if he beats Sonnen, which seems likely.
I understand that the UFC is trying to draw every single last Japanese fight fan they can over to Australia for 110, and that Marquardt has a lot of Japanese fight cred and projected Japanese drawing power being a 7 time King of Pancrase, but it seems to me that Marquardt went from the penthouse [with a win over Demian Maia] to the doghouse [getting his title shot downgraded into a contention fight with Hendo] to the damned sh!thouse, with a Sonnen fight with nothing more than a paycheck attatched.
I know that Ed Soares made it pretty clear that Anderson Silva wanted both Hendo and Marquardt shelved, but this is getting ridiculous.
No reasonable case can be made for Marquardt to fight Sonnen, when cross-referenced with Demian Maia.
Don’t get me wrong.
I have a world of respect for Chael Sonnen, and I think that he’s going to get some real traction at 185, and maybe sometime down the road a fight with Marquardt would be appropriate, but this is market-driven matchmaking at its poorest.
Dana must be seriously concerned that 110 is going to tank if he’s willing to further humiliate a fighter like Nate Marquardt, who has clearly earned a 185 title shot and rematch with Anderson Silva, with a fight on some overseas event and against an opponent with questionable top 10 185 status…
Sure it can, jcohl, given the number of people who thought Okami deserved a title shot…
Called it ;P
If you guys disagree with the fight so much who would you have him fight. I know many are going to say Anderson or Vitor but just get over it that that is not going to happen. Everyone else is on tap to fight… Chael makes perfect since… if the Silva belfort throw down in Feb. at the EARLIEST… that means marquart gets the winner around June which means a 10 month Lay Off coming of a HUGE knock out. You gotta give this guy a fight…. SOOON…… THIS MAKES TOO MUCH SINCE when you break it down.
“Makes too much sense”?!?!
Please, tell me that you’re joking.
Yes, Marquardt should be fighting someone, but someone that is at least on the 185 contention radar and/or a “name” draw for 110, like Wanderlei Silva or Vitor Belfort, and not Chael Sonnen, who got hooked and submitted by Demian Maia in less than 3 minutes, just 9 months ago.
And this is the same Maia that Marquardt just genked in under 30 seconds less than 90 days ago.
Factoring in that Marquardt is supposed to be getting a title shot, how in the world do you come to the “logical” conclusion that this fight in any reasonable way makes sense?
This only makes sense in that, “the UFC is Dana White’s personal fight club” sort of way.
And if you’re going to go the “Japanese drawing power in Australia for 110″ route, then Wand makes He11a more sense than Chael Sonnen.
Let Sonnen and Sexyama do their thing, and let Marquardt retain some dignity after the whole Ed Soares/Anderson Silva/Hendo/Dana mess.
The guy deserves better than he’s getting from the UFC, in spite of any nonsensical “get over it” sentiments by casual fans not withstanding…
Well Nate is the “9 time King of Pancrase” soooo if you are going for the “Japanese draw” the whynot offer the man an opportunity to display his strengths against someone like Chael Sonnen? IMO the Akiyama v Wanderlei fight makes wayyy too much sense to break that one up, my thing is that perhaps getting the Japanese Draw is part of the reason the “King of Pancrase” is fighting Chael, honestly do you think that Sonnen would win, just my thoughts on the situation
First, let me say that I have a lot of respect for Chael Sonnen, who is a former All-American, NCAA champion and US Olympic alternate team member. Those of you who’ve read some of my earlier stuff know that I’m generally a supporter of Team Quest fighters, and Sonnen is no exception.
I actually met Sonnen in the lobby of the Hard Rock around Christmastime, 2007, the day before he faced Paulo Filho for the WEC 185 belt. He was signing photos, posing for pictures, smacking hands, recording voicemail announcements for some high school kids rocking Team Quest gear that had come down from Portland to see his fight, and stopped to do a quick interview for some MMA website.
All before fighting for a championship 30 hours later.
My point here is that Sonnen is an excellent sportsman, and a damned fine competitor. He closed out his WEC run as the de facto 185 champion, and would most likely wear or challange for gold in any promotion that isn’t the UFC.
Specifically, to answer fr702’s question, NO, I don’t think Sonnen can beat Marquardt, but then again I didn’t think Marquardt would KTFO Demian Maia in 30 seconds.
Its getting to be cliche, but anything can happen in MMA. Just Saturday night Brett Rogers shocked me and probably a million other MMA fans by making it out of the first round with Fedor.
That being said, I see Marquardt winning this fight by submission.
However lets just say that Sonnen beats the odds and wins the fight, which is possible given that he has superior wrestling, trains at a camp as good as Marquardt’s, and has about the same fight experience.
How screwed is Nate Marquardt now if he loses?
I understand that market-driven matchmaking has, is, and always will be part and parcel of MMA, and can accept that.
What I have trouble accepting is that so many fans seem to be OK with Marquardt, an exemplary fighter and sportsman, who maintained his cool when the whole Soares/Silva/Hendo/Dana thing went down, is again being publicly disrespected by being asked to fight an opponent below his divisional standing, all so that Zuffa can MAYBE make some more yen down under at 110.
Substituting a ranked opponent for a legend like Wand is fine. Going from Demian Maia and a title shot to Chael Sonnen and window dressing for an overseas event is not.
And I’m pretty sure that an event with a Marquardt-Wand fight and with a Sexyama-Sonnen [considering Sonnen's Olympic credentials] fight will drag just as many Japanese fans down under for 110 as it will if Marquardt fights Sonnen, and Sexyama fights Wand.
For Marquardt, beating Wand means more than beating Sonnen, and losing to Wand is FAR less damaging to his title hopes than losing to Chael Sonnen, or am I out of my mind here?
When exactly did Dana White decide to publicly and routinely p!ss all over Nate Marquardt??
So if he does lose, then good thing he didnt fight Anderson. And still, what better can the UFC give him right now. There is nothing else out there. Sonnen is the only option besides a 10 month layoff.
UFC should have some variation on GP tournaments.
i’m sick of all the long waits for title fights.
People rate fighters mostly by their last fight.