Before Nate Marquardt stepped in the cage last night (March 19) to take on Dan Miller at UFC 128: "Shogun vs. Jones," his thoughts were focused on more than just his path to victory, though that's exactly what he found, winning a gritty unanimous decision.
No, he was also thinking about a monumental move with far-reaching implications for his mixed martial arts career. He was thinking of leaving the land of the middleweights in favor of the 170-pound weight class. A division currently under the rule of his teammate, Georges St. Pierre.
So what prompted this sudden revelation? Straight from the horse's mouth:
"You know, Bisping would be a great fight, I would take that any day. There's still a lot of fights at 185 that I want but one thing I talked to my coaches before this fight and a couple of my teammates, like Georges St. Pierre, and we talked about me cutting down to 170 because I was walking around really light, basically at the same weight Georges walks around at and I think it's something I'd like to try out. If it's a good fit, then I'll go for the title there. ... I think they'll let me drop down to 170 but they might want me to beat up Michael Bisping first."Marquardt would clearly still love to fight Michael Bisping, but he's also very excited at all the possibilities a moved down in weight would present.
A new lease on his UFC career, fresh match-ups and a size advantage over damn near anyone he would run up against. These are a few of the pros, but the major con would be losing out on that rematch against Anderson Silva he's wanted for so long.
Is anyone going to cry over that spilled milk? Doubtful.
But what about his teammate and friend, St. Pierre? Are we looking at another potential situation like the one the Greg Jackson camp is facing now with Jon Jones vs. Rashad Evans? Here's what "The Great" had to say about that possible scenario:
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