Title Shot for Chael Sonnen Versus Nate Marquardt Winner at UFC 109

The winner of the co-main event fight that pits “Great” Nate Marquardt (29-8-2) against Chael Sonnen (23-20-1) at UFC 109 will get a title shot according to UFC President Dana White. While I believe Nate deserves a shot at the title I shiver at the thought of Sonnen getting a title shot.

Today’s UFC 109 presser gave us this news and according to Dana, he has always considered a co-main event a number one contender’s bout. “We always had it in mind,” White said. “These are two of the top five [middleweights] in the world depending on what you look at.”  I don’t think anyone can argue that Nate is deserving of a shot.

White told those at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino’s Mizuya Lounge in Las Vegas his thoughts on Nate. “Nate’s been deserving it for a while,” This is an assessment I can agree with as Nate is 4-1 since he lost to Fighters.com and UFC middleweight champion “The Spider” Anderson Silva (25-4). His lone loss since that time was a split decision loss to Thales Leites (15-3) that many feel should have gone to Nate.

What I don’t understand is the Sonnen getting a shot with a win. I know many will say that if he can beat Nate then he deserves a shot at Silva but let’s look at what he has done since his second arrival in the UFC shall we?

After coming over from the WEC he was matched against submission wizard Demian Maia (10-1) at UFC 95: Sanchez versus Stevens. Chael found himself on the losing end of a triangle choke in the first round. His next two fights, while both wins, were hardly performances befitting of a title shot. He ground out decision victories over hardcore fan favorite Dan Miller (11-2) as well as Yushin Okami (23-5).

Okami was on a three fight win streak until the Sonnen fight but those three wins were not against what I would call quality opponents. Dan Miller was on a four fight win streak until being derailed by Chael. Looking at the fact that he killed the win streaks of two fighters might lead one to believe he is worthy of a shot. The only thing that would make him worthy would be a very convincing win over Nate.

If he were to grind out a decision win over Nate is that spectacular enough to put him in the Octagon with Silva? Does it matter how you win as long as you win? The latter is a tough question as many believe you need to finish fights or at the very least dominate them in order to gain a title shot. I have long been of the opinion that a win is a win and racking up a string of victories should be enough to get you a fight for the title. Chael Sonnen in a title fight with Anderson Silva just does not scream pay-per-view main event to me.

Before I go any further I should say that I feel the likely-hood of Sonnen winning this fight is slim to none. Having said that, I find it hard to believe anyone other than Sonnen actually believes he could beat Anderson Silva. This would be a fight that did nothing but add another highlight reel knock out to the already long list the UFC has thanks to the champion.

What was once a stacked division has become a division of one with all others not being on quite the same level. I do believe that we will see Silva lose in a years time but I can tell you it will not be at the hands of Chael Sonnen.

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