Marquardt Gunning for Gouveia

One of the world’s most accomplished and complete middleweights, Nate Marquardt will take his next step towards returning to title contention when he meets Wilson Gouveia at UFC 95 “Sanchez vs. Stevenson” this Saturday at the O2 Arena in London.

Marquardt, who turns 30 in April, carries a quiet confidence into the cage.

“I’m going to be ready from the start,” he told Sherdog.com in an exclusive video interview. “Any opening that he gives me, I’m going to take it, whether it’s a knockout punch or a takedown or whatever.”

A former middleweight King of Pancrase, Marquardt (27-8-2) has won eight of his past 10 fights. The lone blemishes were a technical knockout loss to UFC middleweight king Anderson Silva at UFC 73 and a disputed split-decision defeat to Thales Leites at UFC 85. Otherwise, he has been stellar. Affiliated with the Jackson’s Submission Fighting camp in Albuquerque, N.M., he annihilated Martin Kampmann in his last appearance inside the Octagon, as he needed a shade more than a minute to dispatch the Dane at UFC 88 in September.

A former light heavyweight with well-rounded skills, Gouveia (12-5) failed to make weight for his bout with Jason MacDonald at “The Ultimate Fighter 8” Finale in December. Nevertheless, he struck the Canadian into submission with first-round elbows, as he won for the sixth time in seven fights. Based out of American Top Team, he has delivered 11 of his 12 wins by knockout, TKO or submission.

Marquardt sees him as a difficult test.

“I think Wilson’s a very tough opponent,” he said. “Overall, he’s a tough guy. [In] pretty much every area, he’s good.”

Check out Greg Savage’s complete interview with Marquardt -- which includes comments from training partner and UFC welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre -- and see how he feels about another shot at Silva, Gouveia’s suspect conditioning and training with one of the world’s premier camps.