Nate Marquardt knows there were people telling him to retire.
The 36-year old former Strikeforce welterweight champion and King of Pancrase had lost five of his past six fights with three knockouts in that span.
But the naysayers don't have much to say at the moment. Marquardt landed a vicious counter right hand to finish C.B. Dollaway early in the second round of their FS1 middleweight prelim bout Saturday night at UFC on FOX 17 in Orlando.
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Dollaway (15-8), who dropped his third straight fight, seemed to get the better of things in a tentative first round. He landed solid leg kicks as Marquardt attempted to figure out his range.
In the second round, though, Dollaway rushed after Marquardt and ran right into Dollaway's giant counter right. Marquardt realized Dollaway was knocked cold after one more punch on the ground, and he stepped off before referee Herb Dean could get in to break it up.
Marquardt (34-15-2) credited his coach at Grudge in Denver, Trevor Wittman, for keeping him focused through tough times.
"You know, I gotta give a big shoutout to my coach Trevor Wittman, he took me from the ground up, rebuilt me and got me back to where I want to be," Marquardt said.