Marquardt Thinks Silva Rematch Is Entirely New Fight
Nate Marquardt was very excited by his 21 second knockout of Demian Maia at UFC 102. But after training hundreds of hours in preparation for the fight, his KO was almost anti-climatic.
“When you train for so long for a fight and you put so much effort into training for a fight and then it’s over in 20 seconds, it’s almost a letdown,” Marquardt told MMAWeekly.com later that night. “It’s kind of a weird feeling. I’m kind of feeling like I still haven’t gotten a fight in.”
The fight does count, and it was huge for Marquardt. Marquardt wants another shot at Silva.
“(After the first fight with Silva) I realized that for a while I was fighting to not lose instead of going in there and giving it 100 percent,” he reflected. “I think I have improved so much technically… But the main thing that is gonna make that different is the mental change that I made, just going in there, looking for the finish. I think I’m a completely different fighter now because of that.”
“I know the level that (Silva’s) at and I also saw what I was able to do against him without that killer instinct that I got back, so I think it’s gonna make a huge difference in (a rematch).”
I would love to see this rematch, almost as bad as I want to see a Silva vs Henderson fight. Both Marquardt and Henderson have somewhat of a chance against Silva. But after watching Marquardt’s huge knockout at UFC 102, I think that he deserves the first shot at Silva.