After months of training, being able to win your fight and cash a $60,000 Knockout of the Night bonus check for just 21 seconds of work must be nice. But it also has Nate Marquardt looking for a quick turnaround as long as it leads him closer to another title shot against UFC middleweight champ Anderson Silva. Marquardt sat down with Cagewriter during the UFC 102 postfight show and said he’ll take the champ or Dan Henderson next (1:30 mark):
"I think it’s gonna be up to the UFC to kind of decide that. I’d be happy with [a Henderson] fight or title shot as well. For me it doesn’t really matter, I just want to make sure I have the right fight in front of me."
Listen to Cagewriter with Marquardt:
Marquardt wouldn’t go as far as saying he deserves the shot over Henderson but he did say the win over Maia meant more than Hendo’s win over Michael Bisping. Of course Henderson’s win against Rich Franklin holds more weight than Nate "The Great’s" win over Wilson Gouveia.
It does sound like Henderson feels like he deserves the shot first. UFC president Dana White suggested earlier in the week that he may have to fight Henderson if he doesn’t get the rematch against Silva next.
Marquardt took a proactive approach at UFC 102 to try and jump ahead of Henderson in the UFC middleweight pecking order. Not only did he beat Maia in 21 seconds but he also went out of character calling out Silva in the cage when he said:
"I want that belt and I don't know who's going to get the next shot, but if you want someone who's going to kick Anderson Silva's butt, you're going to have to give that shot to me"
Marquardt told Cagewriter it wasn’t really trash talk ... but:
"I saw him on the screen and I was hoping he’d come in [the cage] cause then definitely I’d get a shot."
Marquardt did say that he thinks Silva is disrespecting the middleweight division a bit by saying that he doesn’t want to fight certain opponents and is looking for fights at light heavyweight and heavyweight.
Henderson may be the x-factor in this whole mix. Word is that the former Pride middleweight and light heavyweight champ will only fight Silva at middleweight. Otherwise, he’d rather look for big fights back at 205 pounds.
Marquardt said he’ll be ready to fight soon if the UFC comes calling to fill as many as three fight cards that may be unveiled for November.
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