Ever since losing a title shot to Anderson Silva at UFC 73 back in July of last year, Nate “The Great” Marquardt (26-8-2) has been looking to get back into title contention. He welcomed Jeremy Horn back to the UFC with a guillotine choke submission at UFC 81 in February.

And he looked … um, “Great” in a well-publicized UFC 85 bout with Thales Leites.

The only problem is that he lost the fight thanks to two separate point deductions — an illegal knee to the head in the second round, and in the third, an elbow to the back of the head — the latter of which was probably erroneous. The decision was split, and the victor Leites threw his arms up in celebration for a fight he theoretically lost.

This presents an interesting question. On the UFC’s middleweight “depth chart,” how far do you drop Marquardt for losing a fight he really won, and how far do you raise Leites’ stock? Or do you at all?

To keep climbing that chart, Marquardt must first get past the dangerous Martin “Hitman” Kampmann (13-1), who’s fresh off his own UFC 85 win over Jorge Rivera and on a nice nine-fight win streak. To make it 10 it all goes down this Saturday, September 6, at UFC 88: “Breakthrough” at the Philips Arena in Atlanta, Georgia.

We caught up with Marquardt when he was training at his High Altitude Martial Arts academy in Aurora, Colo. Marquardt splits time between there, Greg Jackson’s Gaidojutsu mixed martial arts team in Albuquerque, N.M., and with UFC Welterweight Champion Georges St. Pierre up at BTT Canada and Tristar Gym in Montreal.

Adam Wagner (MMAmania.com): Your split decision loss to Thales Leites has got to be a bitter pill to swallow. How do you feel about the two points that you were docked, the second of which looked unjustified?

Nate Marquardt: Yeah, you know, it’s not as bad as it seems to be honest. That fight got me a lot of publicity. Everyone who saw the fight said that I won. So it’s not really like I really lost that fight.

Yeah, I thought the second point deduction … I don’t feel like what I did was illegal, but sometimes that happens in fights. To be honest, I think I could have finished Thales, and that was my fault for not keeping on him at a couple of points in that fight.

Adam Wagner (MMAmania.com): I read that after the fight, Leites didn’t want to grant you an immediate rematch. Is that true?

Nate Marquardt: Yes. We asked Joe Silva immediately after, and he said that Thales didn’t want a rematch.

Adam Wagner (MMAmania.com): Do you think he was trying to dodge you?

Nate Marquardt: I don’t know. It’s the smarter decision on his part. He ran away with the win on his record. And he’s looking to get a title shot, so it would be a smart choice on his part.

Adam Wagner (MMAmania.com): So is it difficult to bounce back from something like this, or are you looking at it as a win … or at least not a loss?

Nate Marquardt: Yeah, exactly. I see some mistakes I made during that fight, and I always try to work on that. I just try to get better after every fight. I’m not trying to look at it as a win or as a loss. I’m just trying to look at it and see what I did right, and try to copy that, and see what I did wrong and try to fix it.

Adam Wagner (MMAmania.com): Well you’re now set to face Martin Kampmann at UFC 88 this Saturday. Kampmann is a hard-nosed kick-boxer. He has a few submission wins under his belt. Although he’s stated that he’s unable to pinpoint a weakness on you, he also has said that he thinks his striking is superior to yours. How do you feel about the matchup?

Nate Marquardt: I feel great about it. He’s definitely a tough guy. He’s well rounded. He doesn’t have any big holes in his game at all. But I definitely feel that I’m going to be the dominant fighter, wherever the fight goes.

Adam Wagner (MMAmania.com): You’re one of the biggest guys at 185, while Kampmann is on the smaller end of the division. Do you see size being a major factor in this fight?

Nate Marquardt: Yeah, well not so much size, but definitely I feel that I’m going to be the stronger and the faster fighter.

Adam Wagner (MMAmania.com): So what happens in a situation where the fight hits the ground? What do you see happening there?

Nate Marquardt: I think I’m going to hit him as hard as I can and try to knock him out. I’m going to try to hurt him, make him make a mistake or knock him out.

Adam Wagner (MMAmania.com): You had mentioned on your blog that you think a win over Kampmann should solidify you as the number one contender. Do you think the loss to Leites, in the UFC’s eyes, could hinder your chances for the next title shot?

Nate Marquardt: No, not really. They obviously know what happened in the fight. They know that Thales is a tough fighter. They know how I fought with him. After this fight, they’ll see that I beat a guy that beat him, so I don’t think it’s going to come back to haunt me at all.

Adam Wagner (MMAmania.com): I wanted to ask you about how you’ve been training for Kampmann. Has this camp been any different than how you’ve trained in previous camps?

Nate Marquardt: Well barring the fact that I have to fight on six weeks notice, all my previous fights I think I’ve had around three months. So, we’ve had to speed everything up. But that’s not a big deal. I used to fight over in Japan in Pancrase, where you usually only have about six weeks — four to eight weeks was pretty average to know who my opponent was and things like that.

I was still in shape from my last fight, and I have a great strength and conditioning coach in John Chambers, and he’s got me ready for this fight.

Adam Wagner (MMAmania.com): You had also mentioned on your blog that you were training with Rashad Evans and Keith Jardine down in New Mexico, as well as with GSP up in Montreal. Is it common for you to travel around that much to train leading up to a fight?

Nate Marquardt: Yeah. I do a lot of my training here in Denver and down in Albuquerque and Montreal as well. I kinda bounce around in between places.

Adam Wagner (MMAmania.com): Can you tell us a bit about how this strategy helps improve your overall fight game?

Nate Marquardt: For one, we’re from different places, but we’re all teammates, so we’re all helping each other out. I think that’s really important. It’s actually a good thing that we’re located in different areas, because in New Mexico, the guys that live down there are constantly working with Mike Winkeljohn, the kickboxing trainer down there. They’re working with Greg Jackson. They have Mike VanArsdale, they have a lot of great coaches down there.

And guys up in Montreal, they’re working with guys like John Chambers, our strength and conditioning coach. They’re working with Phil Nurse, who is actually from New York, who is a Muay Thai coach with the wrestling club up there, working with high-level, world-class wrestlers.

I have the same thing here. I have my boxing coach Trevor Whitman, I have some really good wrestling coaches, like Keith Wilson. I have my jiu-jitsu guys that I go with from my gym and from Boulder. You know we have a good gym here as well.

It’s good to be located in different areas, because you’re going to learn different things depending on where you’re at. When I go to Montreal I get to learn their stuff, when I go down to New Mexico, I get to learn their stuff, and vice versa.

Adam Wagner (MMAmania.com): You also mentioned that you were filming some kind of pilot for a reality show. Can you tell us more about that?

Nate Marquardt: Oh yeah. That was like a month or six weeks ago. They were down in Albuquerque filming a pilot for a reality show, but to be honest, I don’t really know when it’s going to air or what it’s going to be or anything. I just know it’s going to be about some of the guys on the team. But if I hear more I’ll put it up on my blog.

Adam Wagner (MMAmania.com): Okay, so it’s some sort of MMA-related reality show.

Nate Marquardt: Yeah, definitely.

Adam Wagner (MMAmania.com): Okay, Nate, thanks a lot for talking with us. Would you like to thank any sponsors?

Nate Marquardt: Cool. I just want to thank all my coaches, all the gyms I train at, and all my sponsors, especially TapouT. And you can check out my website at NateMarquardt.com.