This Month’s MMA Birthdays: Nate Marquardt Turns 40

His career largely overshadowed by contemporaries like Anderson Silva and Rich Franklin, Nate Marquardt figures to be remembered as one of the more underappreciated middleweights of his generation. He will celebrate his 40th birthday on April 20.

A former Strikeforce and Pancrase champion, Marquardt holds the rank of black belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu and became known for a potent and diverse skill set. He delivered 27 of his 35 career victories by knockout, technical knockout or submission and owns wins over a number of prominent fighters, from Yves Edwards, Jeremy Horn and Demian Maia to Kazuo Misaki (twice), Rousimar Palhares and Tyron Woodley. Marquardt announced his retirement in December 2017, a little more than a month after his split decision loss to Cezar Ferreira at UFC Fight Night 120. It was his ninth defeat in 11 appearances. The Lander, Wyoming, native made his presence known on FightMetric’s statistical leaderboard: Marquardt ranks second on the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s all-time list for middleweights in knockdowns landed (12) and takedown accuracy (.589), third in submission attempts (14) and total fight time (3:54:27), fifth in takedowns landed (33) and sixth in significant strikes landed (618).

Others in MMA who are celebrating a birthday in April:

APRIL 1

Vitor Belfort, 42
Jeremy Spoon, 34
Hiromasa Ogikubo, 32
Derek Campos, 31
Ramsey Nijem, 31

APRIL 2

Luiz Cane, 38
Cole Konrad, 35
Yi Sak Kim, 33
Ilima-Lei Macfarlane, 29
Benedict Ang, 23

APRIL 3

Rhadi Ferguson, 46
Chael Sonnen, 42
Kazunori Yokota, 41
Travis Reddinger, 37
Sunoto Peringkat, 34

APRIL 4

Ray Mercer, 58
Stephan Bonnar, 42
Rafael Cavalcante, 39
Brian Foster, 35
Riku Shibuya, 34
Ruben Esparza, 31

APRIL 5

James Wilks, 41
Benji Radach, 40
Nicholas Musoke, 33
Jianbing Yang, 25
Said Nurmagomedov, 27

APRIL 6

Charlie Rader, 37
Marcus Brimage, 34
Geje Eustaquio, 30
Doo Ho Choi, 28
Benito Lopez, 25

APRIL 7

Paul Creighton, 49
David Baggett, 39
Russ Miura, 38
Michael Page, 32
A.J. McKee, 24

APRIL 8

Ovince St. Preux, 36
Andrew Sanchez, 31
Milana Dudieva, 30
Manny Lozoya, 30
Taylor Lapilus, 27

APRIL 9

Bernard Ackah, 47
Roman Mitichyan, 41
Phil Harris, 36
Andrew McInnes, 34
Katharina Lehner, 29

APRIL 10

Luis Alberto Nogueira, 37
Sakae Kasuya, 36
Michal Materla, 35
Shinji Maeguchi, 34
James Moontasri, 31

APRIL 11

Gary Quan, 48
Shungo Oyama, 45
Arlene Blencowe, 36
Krasimir Mladenov, 33
Kailin Curran, 28

APRIL 12

Nobuhiko Takada, 57
Roman Savochka, 41
Gilbert Melendez, 37
Robert Whiteford, 36
Brent Primus, 34
Tiago dos Santos e Silva, 32
Rick Glenn, 30

APRIL 13

Emi Tomimatsu, 37
Ben Saunders, 36
Mehdi Baghdad, 34
Yuko Oya, 32
Justine Kish, 31

APRIL 14

Ebenezer Fontes Braga, 50
Anderson Silva, 44
Jessica Rakoczy, 42
Anthony Hamilton, 39
Jussier da Silva, 34

APRIL 15

Enson Inoue, 52
Kenichi Hattori, 41
Leonardo Guimaraes, 37
Magomed Saadulaev, 35
Gabrielle Holloway, 29

APRIL 16

Jason Norwood, 35
Nate Diaz, 34
Pat Audinwood, 33
Alexandre Pantoja, 29
April Osenio, 25

APRIL 17

Benjamin Smith, 39
Martin Kampmann, 37
Tyron Woodley, 37
Siyar Bahadurzada, 35
Jumabieke Tuerxun, 33

APRIL 18

Jan Finney, 39
Ion Pascu, 37
Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou, 35
Chibwikem Onyenegecha, 25
Yanan Wu, 23

APRIL 19

Thomas Denny, 48
Dokonjonosuke Mishima, 47
Zach Makovsky, 36
Farkhad Sharipov, 35
Kelli Gottardo, 32
Pascal Krauss, 32

APRIL 20

Dean Storey, 51
Sheila Bird, 43
Moise Rimbon, 42
Daiju Takase, 42
Nate Marquardt, 40
Tyson Griffin, 35

APRIL 21

Kajan Johnson, 35
Ronny Markes, 31
Alex Oliveira, 31
Adriano Moraes, 30
Paulo Henrique Costa, 28

APRIL 22

Eric Schambari, 41
Alonzo Martinez, 35
Lena Ovchynnikova, 32
Chris Gutierrez, 28
Jerome Rivera, 24

APRIL 23

Josh Bryant, 39
Diego Saraiva, 37
Sam Stout, 35
Juan Manuel Puig, 30
Khonry Gracie, 22

APRIL 24

Marcio Cruz, 41
Achmed Labasanov, 41
Cosmo Alexandre, 37
Shoji Maruyama, 36
Alan Belcher, 35
Germaine de Randamie, 35
Nick Hein, 35
Michael Chandler, 33
Montel Jackson, 27

APRIL 25

Kazuo Misaki, 43
Alexandre Ferreira, 40
Clifford Starks, 38
LaRue Burley, 35
Paul Felder, 34
T.J. Waldburger, 31
Enrique Barzola, 30
Leonardo Mafra Texeira, 30

APRIL 26

David Abbott, 54
Megumi Fujii, 45
Carlos Condit, 35
Cole Miller, 35
Bartosz Fabinski, 33
Marlon Moraes, 31

APRIL 27

Paul Cressaty, 48
Luke Cummo, 39
Steve Swanson, 39
Sijara Eubanks, 34
Justin Wren, 32

APRIL 28

Billy Miles, 41
Leopoldo Serao, 40
Takasuke Kume, 34
Jonavin Webb, 30
Darrick Minner, 28

APRIL 29

Raymond Daniels, 39
Tim Gorman, 36
Valerie Letourneau, 36
Dustin Hazelett, 33
Marina Rodriguez, 32

APRIL 30

Jeff Joslin, 44
Yoel Romero, 42
Jimmy Yabo, 38
Al Iaquinta, 32
Kinberly Tanaka Novaes, 28
Smealinho Rama, 27