I've been very excited with this matchup for quite a while. Rousimar Palhares is a relative newcomer in the UFC, but has been quickly climbing the ranks because of his outstanding BJJ finishes. His opponent, however, is Nate "The Great" Marquardt, who has been professionally competing for more than ten years, is a former UFC Middleweight top contender, and King of Pancrase. Nate's one of the top guys in the UFC middleweight division, and if Palhares beats him, it could very well mean a top contender position for him in the near future. On the other hand, if Marquardt wins this one, then he could very well be catapulted into top contender status as well, a position so convincingly taken from him by Chael Sonnen at
UFC 109.
There's a lot riding on this fight, so both fighters are geared up.
MY TAKE
How did I think this would go? I
predicted that the fight would go to the ground rather quickly, since Palhares is extremely strong and muscular, so he would have no problem taking Nate down. Once there, though, despite Palhares' extremely strong BJJ skills, I thought Nate's many years experience would win the day and he'd get a reversal, and knock out Palhres with his patented ground and pound.
GOT IT RIGHT
Well, I hit it right on the button, it seems. What did surprise me was how hesitant Palhares was in taking that shot to take Nate down. It he seems he was respecting Marquardt's stand up way too much, causing a sort of lull in the first two minutes of the match. Palhares maintained a low stance all throughout, ready to shoot at his chosen opportunity. Likewise, Marquardt's hands were kept to low to defend against any takedown attempts.
Palhares bursts out a minute and a half into the fight with some straight punch combinations, and though he didn't land anything, he was successful enough to send Marquardt agai8nst the cage and take him down with a single leg from there.
On the ground, Palhares assumes a North South position and Marquardt actually attempts to lock on a Triangle Choke from the bottom. Palhares easily gets out of it, however, and goes for a North South Choke. Marquardt escapes and as he does, Palhares curiously hesitates, allowing Marquardt to smash him to bits and finish the fight with his patented ground and pound.
GREASED
Grease is apparently the word, according to Palhares, since he was actually pointing to Marquardt's ankles and complaining to the referee at the time Nate pounced on him and delivered ground and pound. Palhares quickly stirred up some controversy as to why Marquardt was able to escape his ground game. The referee and the doctors checked Marquardt out and confirmed that he did not have any sort of grease on him. Marquardt later adds that during the post-fight interview that he couldn't have been greased since he was thoroughly checked before entering the Octagon. Palhares may be a great UFC fighter, but this sort of complaining really won't win him any fans, especially since it literally cost him the victory.
Check out more amazing photos of UFC Fight Night: Marquardt vs. Palhares over at the
official UFC website!
