UFC 73: Stacked Game
Anderson Silva vs. Nate Marquardt
Saturday July 7, 2007
Silva -165
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In the UFC there is no better middleweight fighter than Anderson Spider Silva (18-4). He is so much better than anyone else by a long shot that I would put him in one category and the rest of the UFC middleweight in another. Yes the UFC’s middleweight division is a very weak division and they need to bring in suitable competition like Denis Knag, Paulo Filho, Kazuo Misaki or Amar Suloev (see top ten middleweight). When the UFC tries to market Chris Leban as a top middleweight you know you are in trouble.

Dana White has done something right by bringing in Nate Marquardt to the Ultimate Fighting Championship. Nate the great Marquardt (28-6-1) is a very good fighter and has trained in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, kickboxing, and Kenpo. Though many North Americans might not know who he is, he is very well known in Japan and is the seven-time Middleweight King of Pancrase Champion which in layman's terms, he is a really good ground fighter. He has fought and defeated great fighters like Daiju Takase, Kiuma Kunioku, Kazuo Misaki and Shonie Carter, and was the first Middleweight King of Pancrase. He is incredible on the ground. However, Marquardt does not do well with stronger opponents. Yes he can match almost anyone on the ground but he has a weak chin and doesn’t do so well when people are stronger on the ground like when he fought Ricardo Almeida who probably is equal in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu but much stronger. In 33 mixed martial arts fight he has only KO’ed 4 people, which shows he is no real threat standing up. His last fight with Dean Lister only proved that he cannot finish and he does not have the submission skills to overpower an accomplished BJJ practitioner. In a submission tournament at ADCC 2003 Nathan Marquardt lost to Dean Lister in less than 2 minutes, which shows that he is very vulnerable to submission by stronger opponents (see video below).

He can match Anderson Silva on the ground and is probably better but Silva is so much better in the stand up Marquardt does have a weak stand up game. Silva captured the UFC 185-pound title with a devastating first-round TKO over Rich Franklin at UFC 64. The Brazilian superstar is one of the premier strikers in the division and has underrated BJJ skills. Anderson Spider codes not have to worry about Marquardt’s stand up so he will be able to throw and land on Marquardt at will. Silva is a former Chute Boxe fighter and has trained with Shogun and Wanderlei Silva, which means he is very devastating.

Bottom Line: There is no middleweight right now in the world that can match Silva's stand up game and he is also a black belt in Brazilian Jujitsu so he will not be caught off guard by Marquardt

First Round KO by Silva by Thai clinching Marquardt where he will rain down knees to Marquardt's head before the ref stops the fight

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