Nate Marquardt | Source: MMAWeekly.com
Longtime middleweight contender Nate Marquardt recently revealed that he is considering a move to 170lbs. Tapology’s Steven Kelliher tracked “The Great” down to explore his reasoning behind his potential division-shaking decision.
Before explaining his line of thinking, Marquardt cautioned that he likely does not have the final say in whether or not he drops from middleweight to welterweight.
“The UFC, my training partners, and my coaches are all important to my decision,” Marquardt said. “For sure if the UFC doesn’t want me to do it then I won’t be able to do anything about that, but my guess is they’re all going to be good with it and see it as a good idea.”
Asked about the most striking differences between the middleweight and welterweight divisions, Marquardt said he would approach the new class as an entirely new challenge, and not necessarily an easier one.
“With any weight class you look at, it’s not always going to be an easier weight class for you if you’re dropping down; it could even be harder,” Marquardt said. “I think it all depends on your body type. The lower weights are going to have speed, endurance, and in many cases superior technique.
“If you compare a heavyweight to a bantamweight, the rate the bantamweight fights at is ten times that of a heavyweight. They never slow down; they’re as fast in the fifth round as they are in the first. From 185lbs to 170lbs, those guys will be a little faster and will set a bit of a higher pace. I think the middleweights are pretty technical, but some of the welterweights probably have better technique; still, the 85ers are stronger, have more knockout power, etc.”
While Marquardt is entirely aware of the new challenges that could await him at 170lbs, he feels that nothing is going to surprise him.
“I feel like I have a very good idea of how I’d match up with them,” Marquardt said. “I’ve fought at 170lbs before, I’ve fought guys at 185lbs who later dropped to 170, and obviously GSP is one of my main training partners. There won’t be any surprises for me.”
When confronted with a hypothetical openweight grand prix tournament pitting the top ten welterweights against the top ten middleweights, Marquardt was hard pressed to decide which team would have more fighters remaining after the first round.
“I think there would be a few more 85ers, but at the same time I know for sure some of the 170-pounders would make it, probably even to the finals,” Marquardt said. “In three-round fights, I think more of the 85ers would come out on top because they could control the pace easier.”
Many have speculated that one of the driving forces behind Marquardt’s potential move is the possibility that he could have a shorter road to the welterweight title than the middleweight belt.
“For sure my goal is to get the title,” Marquardt said. “Honestly I believe I could do it at either weight, but the biggest consideration for me is how I feel, and in this last camp I felt really good. I’ve been walking around quite a bit lighter than I have in the past, and I feel just as strong and explosive. I feel like there’s no quit, no stop in me. Even if I get tired now I feel like I can just push through it and keep going. When I was heavier I had to back off a bit to keep my wind.
“Mentally I feel as strong as I’ve ever felt, and physically as well. I feel very hungry and I think that’s something that guys can kind of lose as they get older and gain experience. If I have ever lost that drive, I’ve gotten it back. I feel great. I feel young. Going into my last fight I was super calm and in a good mood. I didn’t feel any kind of stress or horrible nerves or anything. That is something that I had when I first started fighting because everything was so new and exciting, and I feel that way again.”
Finally, Marquardt was asked how he would approach the personal side of a potential match-up with Welterweight Champion and training partner Georges St-Pierre.
“It’s something that Georges and I have talked about, and if everything goes as planned I don’t think it’s going to be an issue,” Marquardt said. “I hope it’s not, but if it comes to that point I’ll just have to cross that bridge when I get there.”
