Nate Marquardt (27-8-2) and Wilson Gouveia (12-5) will likely mix it up in a monster middleweight mash at UFC 95, which is scheduled to take place from The O2 Arena in London, England, on February 21.
Marquardt is fresh of a brutal first round domination of Martin Kampmann at UFC 88: “Breakthrough” back in September. Prior to the win the former King of Pancrase suffered a minor setback in his bid to earn a title rematch against UFC Middleweight Champion Anderson Silva.
“The Great” dropped a bizarre split decision loss to Thales Leites at UFC 85: “Bedlam” back in June in which he was deducted two points for fouls. It was a competitive fight that he clearly could have won if the infractions — one of which was questionable — were not enforced.
He’s now back in the win column and will look to make it two in a row against the surging American Top Team (ATT) standout.
Gouveia smashed Jason MacDonald with vicious elbows at The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) 8 Finale earlier this month to score an impressive first round technical knockout. Unfortunately, the win was overshadowed by the former light heavyweight’s inability to make the 185-pound division limit, coming in at an alarming four pounds over.
This will mark just the third fight for Gouveia at middleweight. He notched a submission win (armbar) over late replacement Ryan Jensen at UFC Fight Night 15 in his divisional debut back in September. Despite being relatively new to the division, however, he could find himself right in the title hunt with a win over a guy like Marquardt.
Great match up, which should make for an exciting fight.
UFC 95 features the highly anticipated lightweight debut of Diego Sanchez against Joe Stevenson in the main event of the evening. For more on the UFC 95 fight card and rumors click here.
49 Comments »
A win for either fighter would put themselves in the title picture. I think Marquardt is the better fighter by far though.
Thank you, geesh I’ve been wondering when the heel his next fight was gonna be ! Now we need to just find another win for Sherk.
nate by tko
Wilson is not Martin Kampmann who was a very small MW. WIlson is a LHW who is dropping down so he will not be overpowered.
Marquardt couldn’t even finish Leites even after his ILLEGAL antics.
If Gouveia mixes in a salad once in a while he should take out Nate the Sedate.
That knee to thales clearly changed the pace of the fight. He would not have won that without the relentless cheating, i mean accidental infractions. Gouveia’s power is the only advantage he has everything else goes to Nate or is easily negated by his skills.
Their BJJ cancels each other out. Both guys are Black Belts.
Both guys are BJJ Black Belts so they cancel each other out on the ground.
goveia is a blackbelt in bjj he’d probably be better on the ground nate has heavy hands i see nate for this because goveia’s chin is very suspect
No way. Leitis landed the one right hand and that’s it. Even before the knee Marquardt reestablished himself and even won the round on one of the judges score cards. The knee was unfortunate, but it didn’t decide the fight. Get out of here with that trash.
i think if nate wins he is in line for a title shot but i think if wilson wins he will need to win atleast one more fight at middle weight and prove that he can make weight all the time, wilson really impressed me against macdonald but everybody always overrates jmacs stand up, if u ask me jason’s stand up is horrible, he got out struck by demain maia the little time that fight was on its feet, rich beat him down.
Yes. What an awesome fight that will be. I just hope that Wilson makes weight this time.
nate’s wrestling and pure strenght should be decisive
I agree 100% , Great match up .. If Nate wins I hope he gets another title shot.
I think he might need one more win afterward since he lost the controversial fight to Leites. I could see a fight between him and Maia to determine the number one contender. But he has to get past Gouveia first, and that’s not going to be an easy task. I think he’s more likely to win in the later rounds after Gouveia gets tired.
What a slap in the face for Marquardt, he deserves the next title shot right now, not after the next fight.
Disagreed. Thales Leites deserves the next shot. I mean he did defeat Nathan Marquardt. Also, I think Nate will squash Wilson.
I hope you are joking because Nate clearly was the better fighter. He just needs to watch the fouls.
Clearly the better fighter AFTER he illegally kicked Leites in the face. That knee changed the ENTIRE fight. Leites clearly won Round 1.
I cant believe that some people still think that Nate won that fight! THales was schooling him until the illegal strikes changed the fight. Much props to thales for fighting through the endless illegal blows and winning the fight!
gOUVEAI VS. Nate will make for an amazing match up…this is no mismatch, its pretty even, if you ask me. I would have preffered to see Nate vs. Goran (I think Goran is the next big thing in the division), but Gouveai will do just fine. I wont be surprised if Wilson were to win this fight but Nate has to be considered a small favorite!
He wasn’t schooling him watch the fight again! Thales landed one right hand that’s it! Nate had already started to beat Thales up before the illegal knee. He even won the round on one of the judges score cards. Don’t even bring that in here.
i think winner should get a title shot down the line but i do think okami derserves next shot with leites fighting maia
this is an amazing fight, to top middleweights will good all around games goin at it, i like marquardt better and feel hes the better fight no my pick is him. maquardt wont finish him so ill go decision.
Wilson has heavier and Marquardt crumbles under pressure… Wilson FTW!!!!
*heavier hands*
i figured you’d like this one.
You got it, Gouveia is my man. Title shot in 09!!!!
Damn i think Marquardt by decision. Wilson could KO him though.
Nate easily in this one….
I hope Wilson drops Nate like third period french. That is if he makes weight…if not, F-him.
You got this NATE!!
Marquardt has the better stand up. Gouveia has good hands though. I think Marquart is stronger and has the better cardio and wrestling as well. Wilson has the advantage in jits. If Marquardt isn’t getting the better of the striking I think he can GNP Wilson without getting subbed. Lambert was able to do it and Nate didn’t get subbed by Thales who has better jits than Gouveia.
What a great fight
good matchup but now i am just wondering who will be the next maia opponent… now the fight between him and bisping make sense cuz the winner of nate vs gouveia fight the winner of maia vs bisping for the number one contender ………….but damn TUF
Wilson is very underrated.Marquardt is a bad mofo,but Wilson will eventually submit him.Wilson underestimated Goran when He was a 205,He is way better at 185.
Wilson is very underrated… But I see TKO. Either way will be nice. If Wilson applies himself he is unstoppable!
Give Marquardt Maia to determine number one contender. Although I must say the UFC are really wasting Okami … he should get a shot at Silva.
Gouveia wins by TKO.. his standup is much better than Marquardt’s is.. Marquardt is explosive but his technique is horrible and his defense sucks
ok he doesnt have the best defense but technique come on said that to martin kampman he was drop by a beautiful kick to the head and was very technique for me as all the other shots u see the upper too right
said what u want but his technique its not horrible at all
wilson by tko here
Agree…I think Wilson may mug Nate.
Easy fight for Marquardt.
Nice mouthpiece Nate….not! I should have the undertaker slap it out of your mouth you piece of worthless flesh.
Do you ever have anything positive to say or is it all hate?
I am Vince McMahon and I will own you too!
Great.
leites vs maia
winner
Should fight winner of this fight
My prediction
Nate vs maia
Or any winner against bisping
But they might wana toss bisping to silva first
Either way only way I see silva losing would be to maia
I think nate can defeat maia tho so its a circle between the 3 imo
Iv said it for ages and been getting slated, this card is gony suck!! Although this is a nice fight, a main event of diego v stevenson is a joke, a total cop-out!!!
I agree that the UFC should be telling chuck or silva that they have to fight on this card, after all its there job and this card NEEDS a big name on it. WTF will happen if any of these fighters get injured like they usually do on the uk cards, there is f**k all else to put on this card!
If no big fights are added ill be selling my tickets for sure, only problem is ill struggle to sell them for such a shit card!!
Why is gonzaga v carwin fight not on this card?????????
nate has black-belts in gracie and jj-jiu-jutsu and his stand-up is second to none-this man is very well rounded [from sambo to american wrestling-all you haters bow-down-nate will be the ufc middle-weight champ by the end of 09-anthony hot-sauce jones