Sportsnet.ca is reporting Nate Marquardt and Chael Sonnen have agreed to fight in a middleweight bout at UFC 110 on February 20, 2010 at the Acer Arena in Sydney, Australia.
Nate 'the Great' Marquardt is coming off a twenty-one second knockout win over previously unbeaten Demian Maia at UFC 102. This followed TKO back-to-back wins over Wilson Gouveia and Martin Kampmann in the UFC. In April 2009, a full decade passed since Marquardt's MMA debut in 1999. After a lengthy career in Pancrase, Marquardt came to the UFC over four years ago and has fought 10 times, with an 8-2 UFC record.
Chael Sonnen is coming off a huge upset win over Yushin Okami at UFC 104. Okami had been considered to be one of the very top UFC middleweight contenders. With Dan Henderson on the outs with the UFC, Nate Marquardt is the unofficial next top UFC middleweight contender. Marquardt failed in his bid to capture the middleweight strap from Anderson Silva in 2007, but has since worked his way back up the ladder into title contention once again. Vitor Belfort has been moved to the front of the line to fight Anderson Silva next, but the winner of Marquardt/Sonnen, especially if Marquardt wins, could end up being named the new number one contender. Marquardt gives Sonnen a unique opportunity to shoot straight to the top of the UFC middleweight division.
