Yushin Okami earned a unanimous decision over fellow middleweight contender Nate Marquardt in the main event of Saturday’s UFC 122 in Oberhausen, Germany to cap off a luckluster card that lost it’s co-headliner between slugger Alessio Sakara and Jorge Rivera at the last-minute.
Okami used a pair of takedowns in the opening round to grab an early lead, then weathered Marquardt’s offensive attempts in the later rounds while connecting with punches of his own to claim the decision with scores of 29-28, 30-27, and 29-28.
Okami improves to 26-5 with his third-straight win and will challenge the winner of UFC 126′s main event between champion Anderson Silva and Vitor Belfort, while Marquardt misses out on another title shot after suffering his second loss in three bouts.
Germany’s Dennis Siver submitted TUF 9 runner-up Andre Winner in the new UFC 122 co-main event after Sakara was forced off the card hours earlier with flu-like symptoms, while the main card also included decision wins by Amir Sadollah, Krzysztof Soszynski, and Duane Ludwig.
The complete UFC 122 results were:
MAIN CARD
- Yushin Okami def. Nate Marquardt via unanimous decision (29-28, 30-27, 29-28)
- Dennis Siver def. Andre Winner via submission (rear naked choke) – Round 1, 3:37
- Amir Sadollah def. Peter Sobotta via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
- Krzysztof Soszynski def. Goran Reljic via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
- Duane Ludwig def. Nick Osipczak via split decision (28-30, 29-28, 29-28)
PRELIMINARY CARD
- Vladimir Matyushenko def. Alexandre Ferreira via TKO (strikes) – Round 1, 2:20
- Pascal Krauss def. Mark Scanlon via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
- Kyle Noke def. Rob Kimmons via submission (rear naked choke) – Round 2, 1:33
- Karlos Vemola def. Seth Petruzelli via TKO (strikes) – Round 1, 3:46
- Carlos Eduardo Rocha def. Kris McCray via submission (kneebar) – Round 1, 2:21
Latest
Okami, yes
With this performance neither Okami or Nate has a chance to stand agst Silva. Can’t talk about Belford as havent seen him for a while.
you have no idea
Dissapointing night for all the british fighters, we’ve had a really bad run latley, however i think nick osipzack won his fight pretty easily and had a taken away by the judges in a split decision.
Karlos Vemola was a beast at 205! needs a lot of work but he could be a contendor in the future
ya vemola surprised me, and looked huge… seth looked like a mw, perhaps he should think about dropping weight…
seth was doing pretty good to, but vemola was just ‘ power over whelming ‘ his way to a victory… i think seth needs t shine in his next fight…
Good point about Petruzelli maybe dropping to 185.
No disrespect intended, but he looked a little soft at 205, and Vemola looked like he made 205 for about 30 minutes, and then shot back to 220 for the fight…
Don’t forget that Vemola’s last fight was against Jon Madsen in a snoozer at 116 at heavyweight.
cant wait for anderson silva to beat all thats required so the dream match can happen. silva vs st pierre. lets hope this happens soon. i didnt mention georges competition cause, they aint really competition. lol
You really want to watch a 210 lber agasint a 180 lber?
Still don’t see Okami beating Silva , would of loved to see Nate get a crack at him.
You may be right, but consider this:
Not a lot of people saw Edgar beating Penn either time, or imagined how close Chael Sonnen would come to beating Anderson Silva, or picked Velasquez over Lesnar, and no one likes Koscheck’s chances against GSP.
This is MMA, and unforseen sh!t happens in the cage.
Okami has trained at Team Quest, and as 117 showed us the Team Quest style seems to be the most effective approach to date for fighting Anderson Silva.
If Okami were smart he would spend some more time at Team Quest and with Chael Sonnen, ESPECIALLY if Silva beats Belfort.
IMO Okami’s best chance to beat Silva would be for him to ape Sonnen’s style as much as possible, but this time do it for the full 25 minutes, and not just 22 plus.
Taking Silva down and keeping him down for the majority of the fight isn’t as unimaginable as it was before 117.
It also helps that Okami can take a punch. Marquardt caught Okami a few decent shots, and Okami just kept coming and kept up the pressure.
Also, if Belfort somehow Serra effects Silva if and when that fight ever drops, I would like Okami’s chances against Belfort. Okami is a big 185, and combined with his ground game he could conceivably ground and grind his way to the UFC 185 title next year…
It’d hardly be a “Serra effect” if Vitor beats Silva. Belfort is no joke and one of the best strikers around. Belfort is the underdog, and rightfully so, but someone with Vitor’s extensive experience, talent, and natural ability would certainly be a challenge for anyone, including Anderson.
And it isn’t like Vitor hasn’t fought incredible strikers before. He’s fought Alistair Overeem twice. Overeem’s striking is K-1 level, and he’s naturally two weight classes above Vitor (I definitely think Belfort is a beast at 185. Should’ve moved there a while ago.) And Vitor has fought Liddell, Wanderlei, and Rich Franklin. And Randy Couture three times. Vitor obviously has the talent and he’s fought pretty much everyone, so Anderson will not walk through him.
Have to agree with patsox here. Not saying that Vitor is even money, but he could win by other means than flash K.O. If he can start working one of his patented combinations up and down Silva’s face, or connect with a ruthless blow anywhere on Silva that sticks with him for the rest of the fight, then he can parlay it into a win imo.
Also taking into account the above post, it has to be considered that Vitor’s resume reads unlike anything Silva has faced, with the exception being perhaps Hendo. In terms of being a hardened vet though there’s hardly a comparison. At the tender age of 20 and in only his 5th professional fight Vitor was fighting the likes of Randy Couture. And not looking half bad against him. At this stage in their careers both Hendo and Silva were building their records against much lower tier fighters.
The collective level of experience under Vitor’s belt and that he acquired it all while still younger than any comparable vet, puts him in a unique position. His speed, power and explosiveness are all a defining part of Belfort as well, and comes wrapped in an exclusive enough package to give Silva problems. I don’t see Silva pulling off an easy victory here, but his displayed skills are on a different level then even the likes of my boy Vitor. So I have to give the edge to Silva, but not by as wide a margin as most seem to be giving him.
@patsox384 -
@naturaldizaster -
Hold on a sec.
You guys HONESTLY think if Vitor Belfort beats Anderson Silva it won’t be a “Serra effect” situation?
Maybe our definitions of Serra effect vary, and thats cool, but consider the following with no disrespect to Vitro Belfort intended:
If and when A Silva and Vitor Belfort do their thing, Belfort will have been on the shelf for something like 18 months.
He’s also never had a single UFC fight at 185. Not one.
AND he’s stepping in with the guy who fighjts regularly and along with GSP pretty much has locked down the title of “world’s p4p best MMA fighter”.
Now I’m not the biggest A Silva supporter, but denying the obvious seems pointless to me, as much as I’d like to see Belfort knock A Silva cold. In fact, I’ve gone on record previously as holding the POV thag the UFC 185 weightclass would be better promotionally and competitively if A Silva were to lose. As things currently stand, the 185 weightclass is Anderson Silva and a bunch of fighters he’s beaten or have next to no chance of beating him.
IMO that makes for a pretty dull weightclass both in the cage and at the box office.
MAYBE, maybe if Belfort were more active, and MAYBE if we had some indication of how Belfort performs at 185 against UFC level talent, and MAYBE if his skillset strength, striking, wasn’t also A Silva’s skillset strength, I could buy into your Belfort POV.
Sure, Belfort is a bad man, no two ways about it. He’s probably one of the best in the world, and one of the sport’s alltime great stories. Plus I legitimately like the guy and would like to see him come all the way back.
And yeah, he’s killed guys like Terry Martin and Matt Lindland at 185, but at 126 he’s stepping in [supposedly] with ANDERSON SILVA.
Again, thats Anderson Silva we’re talking about. The guy hasn’t actually lost a fight since New Year’s Eve, 2004.
Yes, I know he got DQ’ed in the Okami fight, but since then he’s beaten strikers, submission grapplers, and wrestlers. He’s beaten specialists and well-rounded guys. He’s beaten athletes and technicians.
He’s beaten smaller guys and larger guys. Younger guys and older guys. He’s won by submission, T/KO, and decision.
There is nothing that Vitor Belfort is going to bring with him into the Octagon that Anderson Silva has not only seen before, but has seen OFF before, if you follow.
That being posted, if Belfort were to beat A Silva, how the He11 could it NOT be considered a huge upset, or in my POV a win by Serra effect??
Right, all you really did was justify Silva as being the favorite. Which he is, no doubt. But “Serra effect?” Yes, our definitions must be entirely different, but I question the validity of yours.
Obviously you’re referring to the Serra/GSP fight; the fight being compared to it is Belfort vs. Silva. Silva and GSP are pretty comparable — two of the best in the world, long-time champions, etc. Serra and Belfort are not even close, though, so how could it be a “Serra effect?” Silva’s level of competition against Vitor is noticeably larger than GSP’s against Serra.
Serra is a talented guy, but Vitor Belfort has been there, done it, and has fought inexplicably good strikers before, even ones who were much bigger and stronger than him. If Vitor beats Anderson, it’ll be a spectacular fighter whose already fought and defeated some of the biggest names and best fighters in the world adding another name to his resume.
I mean, look at Matt Serra, his skillset, talent and his accomplishments before he went into the GSP fight. And do the same thing with Vitor for the Silva fight. Not the same at all, is it? And that’s why I can’t see this as a “Serra effect” — knowing what we do about Vitor already, it couldn’t possibly be as big of an upset as Serra beating GSP. No way.
Also, as for Vitor not having fought at 185 in the UFC, that’s right. He hasn’t. But he has made 185 in other organizations and fought Rich Franklin at 195 — Belfort hasn’t fought at that weight class as often as Silva, but since Belfort has fought at this weight and close to it before, I think it can be reasonably concluded that Belfort can make 185 again and not have a major issue with it.
so you want okami to take peds…
how much of sonnens peds useage helped him?
if he had beaten silva he would have been stripped of the belt and it be handed back to silva and there would be a NC on both of there records…
There is one upset you pointed out that I do not want to see. Kos defeating GSP. PLEASE DON’T HAPPEN. ;)
@jiujitsuman: ACTUALLY….It would be a NC but the belt would likely be vacant until A. Silva fought Belfort if Sonnen had beaten him. That was the case when Barnett got popped after winning the title from Couture – the same EXACT situation. Champion loses belt to a roided up opponent, belt is vacant and the defeated fighter gets to be in the next title fight. I see no reason to think it would be anything else if it was to happen again.
@jiujitsuman -
I never said anything about Okami or any other competitor taking PEDs.
What I said was that Okami should use Sonnen’s very successful fight plan.
The PEDs had nothing to do with the thinking behind the fightplan, and its inconclusive at best whether or not the PEDs played a role in the execution and effectiveness of said fightplan…
Wooohooo! An Asian guy is a top contender!
Yeah I really hope someway. I see okami holding ufc gold, I do feel really bad for Nate though his 2nd fight that he is been so close to the title and came up short.
dont feel bad. tell him to pull the trigger, he hinted in interviews leading up to the fight he was gonna play it safe and not take risks because of the title implications. IMO dana needs to stop announcing before these fights winner gets a guaranteed shot at the belt. lets see how these have gone in the past shall we. alves vs fitch 2(safe decision)although fitch didnt get the shot, daley vs kos(same fight basically).now again tonight we have two tentative fighters playing it safe to get a crack at 12pounds of gold.
I’m disappointed in marquardts performance, okami fought his normal fight for most part. Marquardt didn’t fight this fight like someone pushing for his title shot, he really took no chances, and the counter wasn’t working well. Back to the drawing board for him.
Off topic….Why was Nemasis MMA cancelled?
It was postponed to Dec. 11 because of a tropical storm.
Nate Marquardt has no one to blame but himself for his [UD] lost title shot.
His corner was begging him to throw some leg kicks, and Okami had his lead leg far out there begging to get clipped, and Marquardt did next to nothing about it.
6 or 7 well-placed low leg kicks would probably have changed the dynamic of this fight. Marquardt is likely the most well-rounded fighter in the UFC, GSP notwithstanding, and he inexplicably went headhunting and stuck to headhunting against one of the weightclasses best and biggest wrestlers.
To the surprise of no one, he lost the fight, and maybe lost his last chance for a title shot in the foreseeable future.
I know a lot of people are underwhelmed by 122, but it did offer some good stuff other than the main event.
Vemola’s emergence as a promising 205er, a great scrap between Reljic and Soszynski, a close fight with maybe a questionable decision between Ludwig and Osipczak, a cheer-out-loud hometown win for Siver, and a ground scramble clinic and sweet kneebar by Rocha.
Thats a decent night for a free-per-view IMO…
Yeah, it really puzzled me that Nate kept searching for the overhand right even when it was obvious Okami was expecting it. Nate is a great, experienced fighter who can pull out a lot from his bag of tricks. But he didn’t; he looked apprehensive.
Nate did land a nice knee at one point, but he really didn’t try anything like that again. Some kicks (leg, body, head, whatever) and more fluid combinations would’ve made a world of difference for Nate.
you bet. :)
Okami continues to bore me.
Than watch Strikefarce. ;)
yeah i enjoyed the fights, a bit disspointed that amir couldnt put sobotta away, but don’t think anyone in the ufc has.
im going to say goodbye to goran and sobotta defintley see them getting cut but i really hope they dont cut andre.
122 could’ve been much better if Sakarra doesn’t get sick. that fight had a lot of potential, but we did see a good scrap with Sosynzski and Reljic, and i thought Sadolla looked better in this fight than his last, and let’s keep one thing in mind with this fight card. It was FREE!!!
Marquardt’s the 185 pound version of Kenny Florian. Also, throw Sakara and Rivera on my card next week :D. I can dream can’t I?
Dana White would probably agree with your Florian-Marquardt comparison…
;-)
That’s what my sister and I were talking about after the fight. How Marquardt seems to choke in title shots like Florian. I don’t think Marquardt’s game plan was to go in there and head hunt through out the whole fight. I wish him the best and hope he can get passed that barrier in his mind. Also, congratulations to Yushin Okami for a dominate and impressive win. Take it to the Spider! ;)
fights like this should be called draws. neither deserves a win.
i don’t mean disrespect to either great fighter, but whatever happened to’ the best offence being a good defense’?
Well I’m not sure that fight should’ve been a draw, but Ludwig vs. Osipszak conceivably could’ve been.
my friend and I gave it 29-28 Osipszak and were pretty stunned when bang won even though nick had that awful third round.
I started watching MMA because I found boxing to “lack action”… last night boxing WELL outdid UFC in the entertainment department… I will not pay for a PPV MMA event until I see these fighters actually start to try… on the plus side, at least I didn’t have to pay for that crap marquardt/okami fight =D
Don’t let the door hit you on the way out. See ya.
@bsbiz -
Don’t we get posts like geesto’s the one or two times a year, if that, boxing manages to drop a “big fight”?
;-)
You say they don’t try, well how about we through you in the octogan and see how well you do. I’m guessing not that great. Every fighter tries to win and maybe if you stepped inside that cage than you would realize how tough it is to do so. Wake up, it’s almost 2011.
throw you, not through you. sorry. ;)
Am I the only one who doesn’t think Okami deserves the next title shot?
If Sonnen gets his way and serves only a 6 month suspension, (of which he’ll have served 4 months by the December hearing), I think Dana and Co. are going to give him the winner of Sliva / Belfort, (which is slated for February).
Feel free to disagree.
If not Okami, then who?
Consider that Okami at least has won several UFC fights at 185, while Vitor Belfort has not.
If Belfort is handed a title shot in a weightclass he’s never fought in the UFC in, then its pretty clear that words like “earns” and “deserves” aren’t in Dana White’s matchmaking lexicon…
Well, the thing with Belfort is the fact that he’s an MMA legend, a huge draw, and most likely a future UFC Hall of Famer.
Secondly, I think Dana and Co. were more looking at what he had accomplished outside of the UFC over the past few years where he’s gone unbeating since 2006 and dominated his oppenents in very impressive fashion, (it’s a similar thing they’ve now done with Sheilds).
Okami has an impressive record, that’s for certain, but what he hasn’t done is finished his oppenents impressively or formed a solid fan base (within North America) / become a draw. He was also beaten up decidedly by Chael Sonnen not so long ago.
@learntoread -
I get where you’re coming from, but therein lies the problem for both the fanbase and Dana White.
DW directs the UFC hype machine to essentially overwrite what drops in other orgs, and DW himself refers to other orgs as “smaller shows”.
Therefore there is a certain logic disconnect between asking fans to wave off a fighter’s small show accomplishments and then asking them to suddenly validate those same accomplishments when DW fast-tracks Belfort into a 185 title shot for promotional benefit.
This IMO is a HUGE problem in asking the fanbase to suddenly embrace Jake Shields as both a contender and a bad man worthy of a 170 title shot.
Catching the good side of a bad judges decision is not, should not, nor should EVER be grounds for a title shot…
I’m kind of on both sides of this fence, Okami didn’t do anything in the fight last night that says he deserves this, but that partially might be Marquardt’s fault, Okami at least moved forward and remember he’s a wrestler not really known for his striking and Marquardt didn’t take advantage of Okami standing with him. But DW did say it was for a title shot, so i have to go with him on that and would rather him not do to Okami that he does to Fitch. So for that, I think Okami earned his shot simply by winning, but no i’m not impressed at all.
I think Sonnen when he comes back will have to win 1 fight against probably the loser of Silva / Belfort to get his shot again. Would be kinda wrong to get suspended for the reasons he did then come straight back to a title shot.
Didn’t Sean Sherk get a title shot against BJ upon his return from suspension?
If someone counted every little jab and and gave the W to Okami – fine, OK FOR FENCING.
If someone said Nate gets the W for harder significant shots and knees – fine OK, just barely, maybe.
depends how you wanna split hairs…
More significant IMO in a close fight might be momentum towards the end – but again in this fight there was NO SUBSTANTIAL REASON FOR EITHER TO WIN.
Wow what a crazy night of fights (granted I am posting this the following night)
So I was shocked by several judges decisions. I didn’t think Ludwig won the fight either, but one of the judges had the Brit winning all three rounds! He was so obviously gassed out and just running from Ludwig that entire third round, taking huge shots in the process. How can you possibly say that he won all three rounds?
Ahmir looked good tonight, but I still think he is mediocre at best, His striking looks good, but I’d like to see him face fighters that aren’t one dimensional (aka Phil Baroni, The BJJ guy last night) and fight some more well rounded guys.
Nate ‘the great’ fought a REALLY sloppy fight. I’ve never been a fan of his hands hanging at his side boxing, but he was really only caring about his right hand, which didn’t win him his fight. It’s kinda like the basketball team that lives and dies by the 3 point shot. When it works great, but if thats all ya got you won’t ever beat top quality opponents. Okami’s boxing looked VERY crisp, but he is still a far second to A. Silva, will be neat to see them rematch though, wonder if Anderson will be more amped for that fight should he beat Belfort.
Lotsa weird judging but over all good night of fights.
Sherk was already the champion though before that but i see your point.
It’s of little consequence.
Anderson Silva owns everyone.