It wasn’t too long ago UFC President Dana White said Nate Marquardt would never see action in the Octagon again. White’s issue with Marquardt stemmed from a situation where “Nate the Great” was pulled from a headlining fight at the last second due to an elevated testosterone level.
However, the 32-10-2 Marquardt was cleared of wrongdoing in the end and has rekindled his career by winning the Strikeforce welterweight belt. With a title-defense planned for this weekend against Tarec Saffiedine at Strikeforce’s final show, Marquardt is confident he will end back up in the UFC but is also being careful about counting his chickens before they’ve hatched.
“I assume that I’ll be in UFC after this fight. But I’m not concerned about that, so it’s not really an issue for me. I just look forward to my fight, and I know I’m fighting a tough guy, so I’m ready for it mentally.”
“I’ve had fights in Japan before where I thought I was just going to walk all over the guy. I probably could have, but when you go in with that mentality and the guy turns out to be tough, it makes the fight long.”
“He’s very tough. I haven’t seen him get finished. Very good striking. He trains at Team Quest, so he’s well-rounded. But I just feel like I’m a better fighter, a better athlete, and if I come in there with my ‘A’ game, I’m going to be able to finish him.”
SOURCE: MMAJunkie
PHOTO CREDIT: UFC
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I don’t see Saffiedine coming close to victory this weekend.
No reason for the UFC not to bring him back.