Anderson Silva's next UFC middleweight title defense will apparently take place at UFC 108 against Vitor Belfort. Nate Marquardt doesn't Belfort has earned it.
"To be honest, I have no clue what's going on," Marquardt said on HDNet's Inside MMA. "To me, it's not logical that Vitor would get a shot after one fight at 195. It was his first fight back in the UFC, it wasn't even a middleweight fight, and he gets a middleweight title shot? It doesn't make sense to me, but it's not my decision, and I don't really care, I just want to fight."
Logically, Marquardt is right: It doesn't make any sense for Belfort to leapfrog fighters like Marquardt, Dan Henderson (if he re-signs with the UFC) and Yushin Okami (if he beats Chael Sonnen at UFC 104) simply by winning one fight. And it especially doesn't make sense when the one fight was at 195 pounds (and Belfort had trouble making weight), and when Belfort's previous stint in the UFC was at light heavyweight.
But this isn't about logic, it's about the UFC selling the fans on a credible threat to Anderson Silva's middleweight title. And the UFC thinks the best way to sell pay-per-views is to introduce Belfort as a new middleweight threat -- not to give a rematch to Marquardt or Henderson. (Okami isn't even close to being in the UFC's title plans.) So that's why Vitor is the new No. 1 middleweight contender, no matter how much it disappoints Marquardt.
"To be honest, I have no clue what's going on," Marquardt said on HDNet's Inside MMA. "To me, it's not logical that Vitor would get a shot after one fight at 195. It was his first fight back in the UFC, it wasn't even a middleweight fight, and he gets a middleweight title shot? It doesn't make sense to me, but it's not my decision, and I don't really care, I just want to fight."
Logically, Marquardt is right: It doesn't make any sense for Belfort to leapfrog fighters like Marquardt, Dan Henderson (if he re-signs with the UFC) and Yushin Okami (if he beats Chael Sonnen at UFC 104) simply by winning one fight. And it especially doesn't make sense when the one fight was at 195 pounds (and Belfort had trouble making weight), and when Belfort's previous stint in the UFC was at light heavyweight.
But this isn't about logic, it's about the UFC selling the fans on a credible threat to Anderson Silva's middleweight title. And the UFC thinks the best way to sell pay-per-views is to introduce Belfort as a new middleweight threat -- not to give a rematch to Marquardt or Henderson. (Okami isn't even close to being in the UFC's title plans.) So that's why Vitor is the new No. 1 middleweight contender, no matter how much it disappoints Marquardt.
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