Nate "The Great" Marquardt was successful in defeating fellow middleweight, Dan Miller, tonight at UFC 128. With the win, Marquardt moved a step closer to a rematch with UFC middleweight champion and pound-for-pound king, Anderson Silva.
But in a surprising post-fight interview with MMAFighting's Ariel Helwani, Marquardt shocked us by revealing that he is now considering a move to the welterweight division.
"We talked about me cutting down to 170," Marquardt said regarding discussions with his team. "I was walking around really light, basically at the same weight that Georges [St-Pierre] walks around at. I think it's something that I'd like to try out and if it's a good fit, go for the title there."
This surprising bit of news seemed to come completely out of nowhere as Marquardt has been a mainstay in the UFC middleweight division for over five years.
Current UFC welterweight champion, Georges St-Pierre, trains with and is friends with Marquardt, so this news could indicate that St-Pierre is ready to move up to 185 pounds if he defeats Jake Shields at UFC 129.
"I could go to 170 and be happy, and I think I would be able to get the title there," Marquardt asserted.
Without directly saying that St-Pierre is going to be moving up to 185, Marquardt essentially alluded to the fact, given that it is highly unlikely that he would disrespect a fellow teammate by claiming that he could "get the title."
Helwani dove deeper into the situation when he asked if "The Great" would only drop to 170 pounds if St-Pierre moved up to 185 pounds.
"I'm not saying I'd fight him," Marquardt stated, "I'm just saying that, you know, I want to drop to 170 and go for the title there. If he's the title holder there still, then that's something that we'll have to talk about at that point."
Marquardt did stop short at saying that he was definitely going to drop to welterweight, though, clarifying that he still had a few fights that he wanted to have at 185. The name he brought up more than once was Michael Bisping who recently won a controversial fight over Marquardt's Alchemist Management teammate, Jorge Rivera, at UFC 127.
"I think [the UFC] will let me drop to 170, but they might want me to beat up Michael Bisping first."
This big news changes the dynamic of the welterweight division as Marquardt has been very successful at middleweight and could be an instant contender at 170 pounds.
Likewise, if speculation is correct and this does mean St-Pierre's move up in weight classes, we may soon see the superfight between him and UFC middleweight champion, Anderson Silva.
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