Exclusive: Nate Marquardt on Welterweight vs. Middleweight

Check out the blog this morning for an exclusive interview with Nate Marquardt, as he discusses his thought process behind a potential move to 170lbs and how he believes the top ten welterweights would do in a tournament against the top ten middleweights.

Good article that is awesome you got an interview with Nate. He seems like such a big MW I can't imagine how he will look if he makes the cut. I know he isn't very tall but he is so muscular, I wonder if he would have to cut back on weight lifting or something to get down in weight. He'd do well though but I don't think he'd be doing too much better than he is right now at Middleweight. I think he can beat most of them except probably GSP, Fitch, Koscheck and possibly Shields. I'd like to see how he would do against BJ Penn though I think that would be a cool fight to see.

Nate's a six footer.

Yeah I know, he is just very bulky though but if he says he can do it I believe him.

He'll certainly be shredded.

I think the only guys at 170 who I would pick to take a majority against Nate are GSP and Fitch. I think he might tear Shields up on the feet, though if Shields got him down it could be over quickly. But I think Nate would absolutely annihilate Koscheck and Penn without much trouble. Look at what he did to Martin Kampmann at 185.

Oh yeah I completely forgot about his fight with Kampmann he beat him with ease. I do think Koscheck could beat him if he chose to wrestle with him though but if he decided to stand he would lose probably, with Shields his cardio would have to be way better than it was when he faced Kampmann or he would lose for sure. If he comes in with his cardio in check he could probably get him down but I don't think he could finish him it would probably go to decision. I think Penn could cause problems for him too though but you never know how he is going to fight, Penn did well against Fitch though for the first two rounds but was getting demolished in the last round. Penn has good enough striking to stand with Mardquardt though I would think and as long as he doesn't gas out maybe he could win, especially if it is his first fight at WW because he wouldn't be as used to the weight cut and he could maybe gas out like we have seen other fighters do in their first fight at a new weight class. I'm very excited that this wasn't just a rumor though Nate would be tough for anyone at Welterweight for the most part and it'd be very interesting to see.

Great interview @skelliher. I'm not so concerned about the weight cut, i think Nate can doe it quite easily. Being a huge fan on Team Jackson it make me a little eery of what could happen with the gym affiliation with the Team Grudge guys in Denver if Nate were to get a title shot. There are so many variables for this to happen down the road, but with what's happened with Rashad and Jones it creates a very interesting scenario. I know Greg won't be helping either guy train regardless of Rashad's split, but Coach Winklejohn is helping Bones Jones and i'm assuming Trevor Whitman will be helping Rashad. I hope they can keep a mutual respect and work together after that fight.

I hope so too bklettke, it really is a shame that Rashad had to leave over the Jon Jones fight because he had to know it was bound to happen down the road anyway. I almost wonder if it will be even less possible for Rashad to come back after the fight since one of them will have taken a loss to the other. Hopefully Mardquardt won't leave Jackson's, I guess we will just have to wait and see. I am a huge Team Jackson fan as well.

Great interview! That will be a dramatic weight cut. Hopfully he can do it with relative ease.

It's a very interesting scenario, As far as the weight cut it isn't all that drastic. Granted Nate stays in phenomenal shape he used to only cut from about 195 and he stated it's been less than normal. Thiago Alves used to cut from 200 and Anthony Johnson also cuts from near the same weight when he's in shape, 230 when he's had a long layoff to be exact. So i dont' see the weight cut being a large issue for Nate.

I think the top fighters from the Jackson camp have slowly been moving on anyways. Marquardt conducts the meat of his training camps in Denver and seems to travel to Montreal to train with GSP more than New Mexico. By the same token, GSP rarely seems to go to New Mexico or Denver and seems like he's built a very solid camp for himself with Firas Zahabi at Tristar.