On June 26th, 2011, MMA fighter Nate Marquardt was fired from the UFC after tests revealed high levels of testosterone in his system. He was released 24 hours prior to his UFC on Versus 4 fight against Rick Story. One year later, Marquardt was hired once again under the Zuffa banner but this time he’ll be fighting for Strikeforce. As part of the upcoming Strikeforce ‘Rockhold vs Kennedy’ event, Marquardt will be taking on Tyron Woodley for the welterweight title (170 lbs). The event is scheduled to take place on Saturday, July 14th, 2012 in Portland, Oregon.
From Nate Marquardt:
“He’s a tough guy. He’s a really good wrestler, and that’s mainly it. He’s tough. He’s a wrestler. He’s undefeated. He’s athletic. But he’s not gonna be able to deal with me…I wanna knock him out, for more than one reason. I think it’s exciting for the fans, it’s a great gameplan, going in, and honestly, the guy, he’s been very disrespectful to me, in some interviews and stuff, and I wanna take it to him. This fight has just rejuvenated me. I’m super excited about it. I couldn’t be happier right now…That’s the thing I’m gonna do. I’m gonna take his gas tank, that’s number one. And then I’m gonna knock him out. Like I said, the guy was disrespectful to me. He made fun of me, said I stutter and stuff like that, and, you know, I’m gonna make him stutter…I’ve watched all the fights I could on him, and he’s very good at getting the guys down. Some of them, he’s able to submit them. He’s not skilled enough to submit me. But, a lot of the other guys, he’s able to just hold them down, and I’m not gonna let him do that to me for five rounds. That’s not gonna happen. If that’s his gameplan, he’s crazy. He’s not gonna be able to do that to me for five rounds.”
