Belfort vs Silva official; Okami to face Marquardt at UFC 122 (UPDATED)

wow, this is a gift for marquardt. I see nate beating okami decisively.

Completely agree!



Nate's wrestling should be good enough to keep him on the feet against Okami, where he should be able to pick him apart.

this makes ufc 122 the worst card of the year, first i wasnt sure if I was going or not, now i am definetely not

vitor is not out of ufc 122, its just been verefied by dana white that he is fighting and not injured

Im picking Okami he is long over due to be the numb one guy.

If you had nate face munoz in a fight, he will have easily dominated mark munoz in the stand up and on the ground, if mark tried to take nate down, nate wouldn't just defend, he'll turn the situation around and pound him out, I wasn't impressed with the way Okami performed. I'm Filipino but if Okami's going to be number 1 as you said a222g, he should have finished munoz off but it seemed like he didn't have enough tools to do the job. I may be wrong but that's how I see it. Marquardt's gonna win the fight

vitor is in danger of becoming irrelevant...its not his fault of course, but if you dont fight, u cant be considered for a title shot when there are lots of guys killing themselves to earn 1

found out Belfort isn't injured hes fight Anderson for the title now, so happy that fight is finally happening

WTF??? How can a guy who has not fought at MW and is coming off a long injury get a title shot?! It doesn't make sense in a sporting way....but the fight will definitely make Dana and his colleagues bucks while giving many fans a dream match up...

Vitor title shot??? Why???

Nate only lost to Chael (whose a a juicer) erase that loss - NATE SHOULD GET THE SHOT

@Dabs, its cause he is Vitor Belfort and also because almost every MMA fan in the world wants to see Belfort vs Silva, so I don't care if he hasn't fought at MW in the UFC as long as we get to see this fight I'm happy

Yea this is unfortunate for Vitor. Hope he comes back stronger one day.

hope Nate's wrestlin is going to be good enough to keep Okami on the ground, i mean granted he is a good wrestler and has ok bjj but he seems to not use it in smart ways. His standup will help him if he uses it in an agressive way.

WARGH!! what the **** is up, is the MMA God sleeping these days?? sonnen juiced, crocop hurt, now belfort injured... it's come to the point that every time I open lowkick.com I'm afraid of the newest bad news there will be...



only an underdog come from behind headkick KO on saturday can console me now

cro cop is far from being an underdog, there are many here aswell as all around that say he should and will win the fight, and that injury is nothing to serious and will not be a scapegoat if he loses the fight.

haha hes the under dog trying to mak excuses already saying he wont be 100 percent going into the fight.. well frank mir hasnt been training either jus to make it a good fight

Just when the Middleweight division was getting interesting, it all falls apart. To bad...

Vitor fails with injuries

I don't want to see Nate VS Anderson Silva part 2 whatsoever... I'm WAY more interested in seeing Someone NEW against him.

V. Belfort just can't catch a break, can he?

Damn I feel sorry for him. The guy just can't get a break.

I feel Belfort's best days might be behind him at this point, unfortunately. I was really looking forward to a potential war with Silva, but now it just may be Silva/Marquardt 2 that we will be looking at instead, unless Okami can pull off the victory.

This really is a sad time for Belfort, he just can't get the time to shine. However, this is also a good thing because The Great pretty much just secured title contention.

Anyone think it is interesting that Vitor refused to fight anyone when he had his title shot and eventually agreed to fight Okami when the rematch title shot was given to Sonnen. Now 2 days after Sonnen is out he gets injured?

I think Belfort Silva might come before the winner of Okami Marquardt gets the shot. if thats in November and Silva's set to fight in Jan-Feb he could fight Belfort and then the winner of Okami Nate. and it'd give Belfort time to "heal" up b4 the new year. that is if it's Dana's plan if not and he is really hurt again Dana's sure to be pretty mad. didn't they just cut Duffee Because he pulled outta 2 figths in a row

That would be some bull. Hope that doesn't happen.

Well well...

Somewhere Karo Parisyan is smiling....

Not for nothing but Vitor has been talking a lot lately. 1st wanting to fight James Toney, then saying he'd KO Anderson. It's just not like him.

hmm i thought Marquardt might get Silva, I personally wanna hear Dana or anyone from zuffa confirm that this is still a no.1 contender match. Because something tells me Vitor will get A .Silva early next year.

its great news 4 nate but at the same time am starin to fink maybe dana is getn sick of vitor being injury hit a month or so b4 a big fight.. thats twice in the matter of 6 months hes been forced to with draw from a fight, remember he was meant to fight anderson sliva in abu dhabi and now he pulls outa dis fight in germany! todd dufee got released just under a month ago coz hes very injury prome and i think vitor is on the same boat...

Dana pissed off ? I was listening to the Jordan Breen show yesterday and he said the UFC were considering replacing Belfort with Nate for the Germany show. Bare in mind Vitor wasn't known to be injured at this point(check out the podcast on sherdog.com). I'm sorry but I don't care who you are in this sport Chuck, Randy who ever you are unless you were a Champ that lost a 50/50 decision you should have to beat at least 2 of the best guys in the top 5 in the division at least to get a title shot. I HATE FAVORITISM sure Vitor v Silva will be a great fight but the same fans that will turn a blind eye to this will be the same ones that bash Brock Lesnar just because he a WWE star

Wow. Nice I agree. To me it was ridiculous that Vitor was considered for a title shot so quick. Sure its a business but to a lot of the public MMA is struggling for legitimacy as a sport. In a real sport people should have to work their way up and shouldn't get title shots just on your name alone. If Vitor was the number one contender, it wouldn't have been a problem to fight his way to the top.

From what i understand A.Silva is the smallest draw compared to the other UFC champs(prior to BJ losing). The LHW division has always been most consistent for UFC for PPV buys GSP and Brock don't need to fight what a hardcore fan would consider a top 5 guy to sell over 500k. the casual fans are what push the numbers too 800k plus. I think the UFC and most fans want to see A.Silva go toe to toe with another striker which is cool. I can't wait for the fight BUT, when the attention jumps to Brock a few months from now i will be all over the guys making comments about his rise to top being too easy or manufactured.

there goes vitor dodging anderson hahah...jk



thats too bad i wanted to see vitor vs anderson. he wouldve ko'd okami for sure

Okami can pull this off no problem, if he sticks to the plan and tosses Nate around and holds him down. Anyone who thinks Nate's wrestling is good enough to defend all of Okami's takedowns is a complete ****ing nutbag and 1. has no idea how good Okami's wrestling is and 2. has no idea how mediocre Nate's takedown defense is.



Please, for all of those who think Nate can and will sprawl and brawl the whole fight, see these two fights for case-points to the contrary:



Yushin Okami v. Mark Munoz

Nate Marquardt v. Chael Sonnen



I would like to point out that Munoz is one of the best wrestlers in the UFC and certainly one of the best at 185 and Okami took him down at will. Would anyone out there like to say that Marquardt's takedown defense is better than Munoz's? HA

Okami is not Sonnen. and Nate's not the same Nate. he's a fighter who improves heavily each fight and u talk about a good gameplan he works with Greg jackson AKA the master tactician. Nate's Gameplan will be good probably better then Okami and I'm sure he'll Be working serious takedown defense with the best of the best he's got GSP and Rashad Evans to help him out both GREAT wrestlers and both different sizes and speeds with different ways of wrestling. Nate will be ready and I think will finish Okami in round 2. TKO

oh well good news for Marquardt.

This really sux, I have been looking forward to this fight big time. It is a great chance for Marquardt however so it will still be a great fight

Oh GOD DAMIT worst thing ever would happen!!!!

Marquardt vs silva 2. I have been waiting for this rematch for a very long time but then after chael beat nate and almost silva this fight isnt as good as it could have been a year ago

danawhite



Vitor is not injured. He is going to fight anderson for the title and the winner of marquart and okami are next.

I think Nate is a worse opponent for Yushin. I know Vitor is a great striker but Okami is great at staying away from punches and staying out of trouble. I think Nate will try to use his wrestling to take this to the ground. If Yushin can stay on the feet, he can win but I think it will be tough for him to do that.

Belfort is not injured, he has just been moved up to face Aderson for the belt probably around January/February . http://mmajunkie.com/news/20748/champ-anderson-silva-vs-vitor-belfort-targeted-for-early-2011-possibly-ufc-125.mma

wrote a article on it for you boner89!

cool, glad they got it fixed.

I don't really like this move by Vitor, I mean he hasn't ever had a fight at 185 in the UFC and he comes in for a title fight. Not to mention if he doesn't fight until the new year it will be nearly a 2 year lay off ... He should have stayed in the Okami fight, he still could have fought Anderson at the same time after laying out Okami.

Totally off topic but do any of you feel like nate could fight at light heavyweight? I always thought he looked big in middle weight (which im sure is nice for him). I was thinking theres some exciting match-ups for him at 205. I would love to see bader marquardt.



I know I know he should wait and see how much success he can have at 185

That's why I asked him during an interview what's his regular weight. He says it's around 200. On some pictures, he looked bigger than Rashad Evans to me.

everybody saw that coming

Its sad that I didn't.

i think if vitor dosent finish anderson in the early rounds ring rust will kick in and sliva will win.. but i also say that vitor has wat it takes to finish anderson early.. cant wait 4 that fight and please stay heathly...

yes this is my last hope for anderson to lose

vitor has what it takes

man i think he can pull this off with a ko

when he goes for the finish he can finsh

I've been waiting for a long time. I'm wrong a lot. As a matter of fact everytime I've picked against him haha.

F*** yeah Silva vs Belfort i dont care who wins this but im picking Silva because of his arsenal of strikes. Belfort has speed and KO power but i think that Silva will be too much for him with his pin point counters and movement

Regardless, this is the biggest test of anderson silva's career. He has passed so many, and proved he is p4p the best... but the last and final test for him is Vitor. Should be unreal and one of the most epic fights in a long time. CANT WAIT!!!!!

as much as i wanna see this fight & trust me im anxious for it, i dont think its fair,



if anything they shouldve given Okami the shot since he has a couple of staight wins, nate vs belfort wouldve been a great match up

but oh well, should be good

i like both the spider and vitor. but i think vitor kept calling out ppl like james toney in a stand up fight and saying if anderson silva felt his punch he would go to sleep. i jus think that vitor is dodging ground guys like yushin okami. i think that he should have stayed on that fight and seen how his ground game really is he has only been fighting stand up guys anderson fought a ground guy and now i think its vitors turn.

The answer is simply, Anderson would rather fight Vitor as he will keep it standing and Vitor would rather fight Anderson as he will keep it standing. Nate vs Okami will be a very interesting fight thou.

I stated a few days ago on the Belfort injury topic that iu wouldnt doubt it if Belfort ended up fighting Silva. I had a feeling there wasn't an injury and they had set something up to hwere Belfort would take the slot for the title match.