According to Nate Marquardt’s (25-7-2) coaching staff over at his camp, he has renewed his contract with the UFC. With only one fight remaining in his previous contract, it has been learned that he has signed a new 4-fight deal.
Marquardt’s next opponent will be Thales Leites (12-1-0), a very tough Brazilian Jiu Jitsu expert with 8 career wins via submission. Leites’ official UFC debut came at The Ultimate Fighter 4 finale where he lost to the very vicious Mark Kampmann via a unanimous decision. He was able to learn from his mistakes and bounce back with 3 consecutive wins in the UFC, defeating Pete Sell, Floyd Sword and Ryan Jensen.
As for Nate Marquardt, he is well known for being a 7-time Pancrase champion before signing with Dana White. When coming into the UFC, he won 4 consecutive times giving him the opportunity for a title shot. However, the current UFC middleweight champion, Anderson Silva, stopped Marquardt’s winning streak and his chance for the belt by way of TKO-strikes in the first round. He will look to acquire his revenge by first taking on Leites at UFC 81, which is scheduled to take place on Superbowl weekend. Already on the fight are heavyweights Frank Mir who will be taking on the former WWE heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar in Lesnar’s UFC debut.
