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Nate "The Great" Marquardt vs. Yushin "Thunder" Okami

by Geoff Mackay
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UFC 122: Marquardt vs. Okami
November 13, 2010
Nate Marquardt vs. Yushin Okami
UFC Betting Pick: Nate Marquardt

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Middleweight bout: Nate "The Great" Marquardt vs. Yushin "Thunder" Okami

Less than a week after his win over Rousimar Palhares at UFC Fight Night: Marquardt vs. Palhares, Nate “The Great” Marquardt (30-9) has announced a quick return to the octagon to face Yushin “Thunder” Okami (25-5) on November 13, 2010 at UFC 122, replacing Vitor Belfort.

Okami was set to fight Belfort in the main event at UFC 122 with the winner receiving a middleweight title shot against Anderson Silva, however, as the Silva versus Chael Sonnen bout has been called off due to a positive steroids test, Belfort has been moved up to face Silva. The winner of the Marquardt versus Okami match is expected to get the next shot at the UFC middleweight championship. Marquardt will now face Okami in the main event in what is expected to be a title eliminator bout. Nevertheless, Okami would have fallen to Belfort and unfortunately he will lose to Marquardt as well.

In all areas of mixed martial arts, Marquardt is the stronger contender but most importantly, he is a fast starter and fights at the same pace throughout while Okami is a notoriously slow starter and fights well only after the midpoint of the second round. By “slow” I mean Okami usually tries to take the pace of the fight down a few notches to conform to his style—he is quite tentative in the first two rounds and usually picks it up near the end of the third.

Both fighters are very good strikers so this will most likely be a striking battle. Though Okami is more powerful, he is a slow puncher and though he has a decent amount of knock out victories to his name, he has yet to KO a top level fighter. Marquardt on the other hand is a very technical and fast striker and will use his quick hands to land points on Okami.

Marquardt will consistently measure his distance and keep his defense tight until he is ready to go in for the strike. Once he has his timing he will go in for the kill and strike with such quickness that Okami will not be able to counter. The only thing Marquardt will need to keep in mind is that Okami is a southpaw so he will need to circle to his left and stay away from his straight left hand.

When it comes to grappling Marquardt is great on the ground—though primarily known for his striking Marquardt has skills far superior than most. He has a black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu as well as a black belt in traditional Jiu-Jitsu. He earned his BJJ black belt from Ricardo Murgel who is a 8th degree black belt under Grandmaster Flavio Behring.

Marquardt has a very good top grappling game and if this fight goes to the ground he can easily handle the slower Okami. Marquardt is a very agile and quick fighter and can use his speed to spin around and take his back. Okami’s last real submission was against Brian Foster way back in 2005 and though Okami is larger and has a decent ground game, he is nowhere as good as Marquardt.

Marquardt trains at one of the best MMA clubs in the world, Jackson’s Submission Fighting. Greg Jackson is known to be one of the premier trainers in the world as he prepares his fighters for every aspect of the game—both mentally and physically and tailors a game plan for each of his guys based on the opponent they will be up against.

Not only does Marquardt have Jackson in his corner but also the other fighters currently seeking out Jackson’s tutelage—Georges St-Pierre, Rashad Evans, Diego Sanchez, Kenny Florian, Shane Carwin, Keith Jardine, Joey Villasenor, Jon Jones and Roger Huerta. Unfortunately Okami does not come from a well-round camp and currently rolls with the likes of Caol Uno, Yushin Okami and Keita Nakamura at Wajyutsu Keisyukai which is not nearly as renown as Jackson’s Submission Fighting.

On average Japanese fighters are not known for their conditioning and that is apparent in most of Okami’s fights. Okami is not a finisher—of his 25 wins, 11 have gone to a decision and of his 11 UFC fights, 7 of them have gone that way. He is generally a slow starter and has been known to lose the first round due to his inactivity and does not pick up the pace and start his fight until late in the second and third rounds. Though he can get the KO and take less skilled fighters with ease he has the bad habit of not turning it on until it is too late.

Bottom Line: The best bet for this fight is a UFC prop bet for it to go to decision—though Marquardt is a well-rounded fighter Okami is tough but not a finisher.

Marquardt is quite quick and his striking is very technical which will confuse Okami. He will start off slowly as always which will give Marquardt the opportunity to score the jabs and get the takedown points. In the second round Marquardt will continue his onslaught by the end of which Okami will be hurting. Though Okami will win the third round it will be too late as he will be down two.

I would recommend parlaying a money line bet along with a UFC prop bet in favor of Marquardt.

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