Nate Marquardt and Demian Maia. Photo by Dave Mandel/Sherdog.com.
If middleweight contender
Nate Marquardt is hoping a victory Saturday against
Demian Maia at UFC 102 in Portland, Ore., might ensure him his second title shot in two years, his façade isn’t showing it.
Maia, an undefeated jiu-jitsu specialist, has dispatched all five of his UFC opponents by submission.
“It’s a big fight for me,” said the soft-spoken former King of Pancrase. “I think everyone considers him one of the top contenders and I think it’s a good opportunity for me to fight another top contender; a lot of times those kind of matchups aren’t made so I’m really happy for this opportunity.”
Maia, 31, has proven a tough nut to crack since making the jump to mixed martial arts.
With a fluid, attacking ground game, the Team Wand fighter has notched nine submissions in ten tries.
Marquardt’s trainer
Greg Jackson recognizes the dangerous nature of the fight. Despite all of Marquardt’s big-fight experience and the well-rounded nature of his game, Jackson is insistent his charge be cautious about the type of situations he gets himself into with Maia, who could end the fight in a heartbeat.
“The big key is making sure we don’t make mistakes,” said Jackson. “That’s the big key, like if we get caught in a scramble, which is where Maia is really good, then we can get into some trouble. The big question will be can we stick to our plan.”
Where the battle takes place can be a major factor in determining the bout’s outcome, but Marquardt’s camp was quick to counter any claims that they are reluctant to let the fight hit the canvas.
“Because he is so skilled there doesn’t necessarily mean we want to keep it a standup battle,” said Jackson. “It just means beating him everywhere where he’s good, not necessarily on the ground, but where on the ground basically is what is important.”
Marquardt also spoke of the inability of Maia’s previous opponents to combat his aggressive ground attacks.
“I think a lot of the guys who fought him before either weren’t black belts or weren’t on the same level as him,” said Marquardt. “I am a lot more well-rounded than he is and a lot faster and stronger than he is and that’s going to make a big difference.”
The man Marquardt credits with helping make him faster and stronger, his strength and conditioning coach Jonathan Chaimberg, devised some fight specific routines with Maia in mind for this training camp.
“Nate is very, very athletic, very explosive as it is, so we just try to fine-tune and try to change a few things so we can have him explode out of scrambles, out of clinches,” said Chaimberg. “We want to keep him powerful so he doesn’t have that lactic acid build up and he can attack at any time.”
That will be key should he find himself in the clutches of one of the sport’s better finishers.
Jackson summed up his fighters chances as succinctly as he could.
“If we fight our fight and not [Maia’s], we will be in good shape,” said the trainer. “If not, it will be a long night for us. Basically we just better not f--- up.”
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