Nate Marquardt signs with BAMMA but still feels like a return to UFC is possible

Tom Watson and Joey Villasenor, apparently, said nothing but good things about the mixed martial arts promotion stationed over in the U.K., which was enough to convince Nate Marquardt to sign on the dotted line when presented a contract.
Well, that and the fact that he was given one hell of a contract. Or at least that's how he makes it sound in a recent interview with MMA Live:

"I talked to some of my teammates, Tom Watson, Joey Villasenor, and they recommended BAMMA very highly. They talked very well about them. They treat their fighters right, they're the premier league in Europe and they have some great fighters from all over the world, top level competition. I'm just very excited to be fighting for them. ... "You know, it's definitely a possibility (that I'll get back to the UFC before my career is over). But for right now, I feel like all this happened for a reason and I'm very happy with BAMMA. Like I said, my teammates talked them up very highly to me. They treat them right and honestly, for the contract I'm getting, I'm very excited. I feel that they're treating me very fairly."

Money talks and from the sounds of it, it speaks loud enough to ease the "Great" divide between Marquardt and UFC.
He still wants to eventually make his way back to the world's largest fight promotion but in the meantime, BAMMA will do thanks to what may well be the highest level of competition of any organization other than UFC.
Of course, as will likely be the norm for the rest of his career, questions regarding testosterone replacement therapy (TRT) abound. But Marquardt has a plan to make sure he never gets in trouble again.

"I've already taken steps (to make sure I don't fail for elevated levels of testosterone). One thing is I'm getting my medical records transferred over to, actually, the doctor who was in charge of the Pennsylvania Athletic Commission. That way it's with someone who is used to the regulation, they know all the rules and how to write all the letters and everything like that. I just feel very confident that that doctor is going to steer me the right way and honestly, I'm going to take all the precautions I can, I'm going to take everything into my own hands and make sure I'm doing all the right steps so that there should be no time where my levels are even close to being over the limit. The issue before was the timing issue, it was a new treatment, and that's not going to happen again."

Marquardt was released from UFC just this past June 25 due to failing his medicals in the state of Pennsylvania for elevated levels of testosterone.
He attempted to explain how something like that could occur in later interviews and maintained his hope that Octagon king Dana White would give him a second chance, but so far, no dice.
Nate landed on his feet by signing with BAMMA, though, and from the sounds of it, he found a company that wants him just as much as he wants them.
Could that be because Marquardt has officially made the drop down to welterweight and the BAMMA 170-pound title is vacant at the moment? Could it also be due to Paul Daley calling the promotion his second home? Combine the two and it's easy to see the writing on the wall.



by Geno Mrosko