Rewatch Throw back to Silva teaching Marquardt how to wrestle and ground n pound

[MigitAs]

He was pretty badass on steroids

 

[Richard Fannin]

That two piece he hit on Vitor after dropping him; the accuracy of the knee on Chael when his back was against the cage; the precision of his precise striking against Okami on the ground to provoke the stoppage are all great examples of this. As is the OP. Anderson truly was a sniper with his strikes when his reflexes and speed were still with him.

Those 3 fights were crazy, about AS/Sonnen 2, it's one of those details that slowly gets forgotten, but right when it happened 'bout half of Sherdog were already celebrating Chael as the new MW UFC champion

"Chael pissed him off so much in the lead up to the rematch, and beat his ass for 4 rounds and 1/2 in their first fight, Anderson snapped and kneed his downed opponent right in the jaw!!!!"

The commentators also thought that AS dun fucked up and would be DQ'd, and for a couple minutes before the replays hit the screen I lived in a world in which Chael was the unironic UFC MW champion


What a time to be alive

 

[Native7]

Refreshing to watch Prime Silva.

He legit loved his craft. Creativity, precision and murderous violence.

True artist.

 

[pankrat]

He was pretty badass on steroids

You mean Marquardt?

 

[xMTDx]

Nate came out of retirement a few years back because god told him to. I never understood why god chooses to give divine inspiration to juiced up prize fighters.....

 

[pankrat]

I’ve said it before, but if Anderson never came around I think Marquardt could have ruled the division for a while.

He would be in the mix and could grab the belt at some point but I think Franklin beats him more times than not, although it's a very close fight. Similar vs Okami.
Shortly after, Henderson and Sonnen signed by UFC and I think would be favoured to beat Marquardt too. No easy fight for anybody at MW back then.

Anderson Silva himself agreed with you though:
bleacherreport.com/articles/326175-ufc-champ-anderson-silva-nate-marquardt-is-the-heir-apparent

 

[biscuitsbrah]

Anderson was just a hella patient sniper

 

[doggo]

Was a master of controling distance and straight punches but with 5 times the power adesanya has, so his GnP went the same directions, straight punches and real hard.

 

[orca]

the problem is that andy doesnt really care if hes taken down
hes got a legit black belt in bjj
(his bjj skills is not really far behind from his striking)

youl burn alot of energy trying to control him on the ground

godlike striker with great ground game
putting adesanya above him is funny

i would love to see ddp vs izzy
lets see what he looks like when ddp eventually takes him down
if hel drown or show he has good ground game

 

[cade187]

He would be in the mix and could grab the belt at some point but I think Franklin beats him more times than not, although it's a very close fight. Similar vs Okami.
Shortly after, Henderson and Sonnen signed by UFC and I think would be favoured to beat Marquardt too. No easy fight for anybody at MW back then.

Anderson Silva himself agreed with you though:
bleacherreport.com/articles/326175-ufc-champ-anderson-silva-nate-marquardt-is-the-heir-apparent

All of those would be tough matches for sure, but I think the cards could have lined up right for him. Confidence is an often underrated part of a fighters game (see Conor’s original ufc run before Khabib). I think he would have beat Rich for the title and would have gained a lot of confidence, which could be a big factor in those other fights. It’s purely speculation, but I’ve always thought he would have been the big dog in a spiderless world.

 

[Skarsgard]

There was activity down there, even if thanks to Silva. I would understand it if there was stall for a prolongued time but it clearly looked like Big John was waiting for the minimum stop of activity to stand them up.
And its not fair. Its hard to get the fight there to take it away so easily and me as a fan I was also interested on what was going on in the grappling exchange.

I don't think activity off of the bottom necessarily means it should discount a standup. That's a situation where the ref should know his fighters. Don't stand Big Nog up from guard, but maybe a wrestler who is clearly trying to stall.

 

[Poirierfan]

Back when they let fights have sponsors and jump off the cage.

 

[AmbassadorFright]

Always thought this was a severely underrated win. Yes, Marquardt was on the smaller size for a MW but dude was dangerous anywhere the fight went. Slept Maia, Woodley and Palhares all in their physical primes. Great performance by Anderson

 

[Nobru]

Anderson's striking accuracy and especially GnP accuracy is insane. Vastly underrated.
I remember there used to be a stat about his GnP accuracy which was something crazy like 80%, I'm not sure if this is still around.

It was on the old UFC page before the ugly redesign and probably before a few of his last fightts.

yup

hes not just throwing with volume and he aint nervous or anxious.

he waits the right window and goes for it. combine this with heavy hands.................

AS was a specimen. I dont think we have seen anyone close to him. Fedor, Jones, GSP and the remaining GOAT contenders, all had their qualities OFC. But Anderson qualities made him truly special IMHO

 

[BowserJr]

Gawd, this fight had so much potential.

This is also where Silva's mystique really started to pick up.

Marquardt was one of the few big name "Non-UFC" guys that fought fucking everywhere but the UFC. So to see him come in and get absolutely fucking styled on was crazy. The Hendo fight for Silva had a similar vibe for me, where i was not expecting an absolute beat down.

The Hendo fight cemented it for me. He was on a sick streak of wins over top guys and legends. Literally only losing fights which ironically he had no busy losing... (hendo had shades of unmotivated BJ but actually beat more guys that were legit bigger than him)

Hendo vs Rampage was such a good back n forth fight too. But Silva made easy work of him lol.

 

[pankrat]

I don't think activity off of the bottom necessarily means it should discount a standup. That's a situation where the ref should know his fighters. Don't stand Big Nog up from guard, but maybe a wrestler who is clearly trying to stall.

Actually because we know Marquardt, it's a very unjustified ref standup imo.

I would not label Nate a staller wrestler, he had a more technical and diversified ground work from his Pancrase background than your average college wrestling based fighter from back then who would just stick head-to-chest and "keep busy" with short punches that go nowhere.

I would rather see the guy on top to take his time but with some goal besides "being busy" from guard, and I was enjoying the ground work in this fight. The average mma fan tends to have short attention span though.

Big John barely gave Nate more than 10 seconds to settle since he went down there with a legit black belt who was himself trying to stall to get the benefit from the referee.

 

[Skarsgard]

Actually because we know Marquardt, it's a very unjustified ref standup imo.

I would not label Nate a staller wrestler, he had a more technical and diversified ground work from his Pancrase background than your average college wrestling based fighter from back then who would just stick head-to-chest and "keep busy" with short punches that go nowhere.

I would rather see the guy on top to take his time but with some goal besides "being busy" from guard, and I was enjoying the ground work in this fight. The average mma fan tends to have short attention span though.

Big John barely gave Nate more than 10 seconds to settle since he went down there with a legit black belt who was himself trying to stall to get the benefit from the referee.

We do know Nate. We know that he always choked in his bigger fights. He was holding on for dear life, which wasn't typical behavior. Anderson was working to create space and escape or get the sub. I think that's what made it seem like it was moving a lot. Either way, it doesn't change much. Anderson probably finds a way to win. He always did back then.

 

[pankrat]

We do know Nate. We know that he always choked in his bigger fights. He was holding on for dear life, which wasn't typical behavior. Anderson was working to create space and escape or get the sub. I think that's what made it seem like it was moving a lot. Either way, it doesn't change much. Anderson probably finds a way to win. He always did back then.

Apart that it would not change the fact that it was a clearly premature standup by the referee, the claim that Marquardt "always choked in big fights" is one of those sherbro clichés parroted ad nauseum around here.

Marquardt was a multiple times champion in several organizations who also fought in 4 different UFC tittle eliminators and was highly competitive, win or lose, in every single one of them.

Losing a competitive fight to another tittle contender doesnt make you a choker, and if losing to prime Anderson Slva makes you a choker, every single fighter is a choker as well.

 

[Skarsgard]

Apart that it would not change the fact that it was a clearly premature standup by the referee, the claim that Marquardt "always choked in big fights" is one of those sherbro clichés parroted ad nauseum around here.

Marquardt was a multiple times champion in several organizations who also fought in 4 different UFC tittle eliminators and was highly competitive, win or lose, in every single one of them.

Losing a competitive fight to another tittle contender doesnt make you a choker, and if losing to prime Anderson Slva makes you a choker, every single fighter is a choker as well.

Not to be pedantic, but that is the definition of an opinion, not fact. I think the standup was justified.
It's more than just losing the competitive fights. It's the bone-headed moves. Jumping a guillotine when he had Chael hurt. Continuing to back up when Okami is jabbing his face off. I was a massive fan of the guy back in the day. There are more examples from back then that I can't remember, but those stick out.

 

[pankrat]

Not to be pedantic, but that is the definition of an opinion, not fact. I think the standup was justified.

Cool. What I was saying is that Marquard being allegedly a choker and the clear underdog in that fight doesnt make the standup referee any more or less justified.

It's more than just losing the competitive fights. It's the bone-headed moves. Jumping a guillotine when he had Chael hurt. Continuing to back up when Okami is jabbing his face off. I was a massive fan of the guy back in the day. There are more examples from back then that I can't remember, but those stick out.

Getting jabbed off by the rangier Okami (who would also shut you down in the clinch/ TD if you get past his jab) doesnt make you a choker.
Okami's made plenty of people look bad and tentative. Rich Franklin, Mark Muñoz or Lombard looked similar vs Yushin, unable to pull the trigger.
The guy could be boring but was a master at slowing down the pace and neutralizing people. It was an extremely close fight anyways and some media scores actually gave the W to Nate:

Yushin Okami def. Nate Marquardt :: UFC 122 :: MMA Decisions

mmadecisions.com

The guillotine was a go-to move for Marquardt. It was his prefered technique and made it work with many people, including a BJJ ace in Jeremy Horn. And Sonnen was not exactly known for his sub defense.
Again, losing a competitive fight to the bigger, prime juiced up Sonnen who gave Anderson Silva all he could handle in the very next fight is not a sign of a choker.

Nate "the choker" then went to brutally KO Tyron Woodley to grab the Strikeforce WW tittle btw.

It's a sherbro cliché. That's what it is. And the way you tried to back up such cliché further proves it's indeed a sherbro cliché lol, with all due respect.