Earlier yesterday, word came out that Nate Marquardt wasn’t going to be fighting Rick Story in the main event of today’s UFC Live on Versus show and would be replaced by Charlie Brenneman. I think people just figured that he wasn’t going to make weight and that’s why he was taken off the card. But that wasn’t the situation. He didn’t pass his pre-fight medical exams. Check out his weight cut here, which seems to go pretty easily.

After that news broke, Dana tweeted out a link to his Tout video account that said not only would Nate not be fighting, but he would no longer be fighting for the UFC.

One interesting thing about this that Ryan Frederick brought to my attention is that they seemed to have Brenneman on stand by, so they must’ve thought there was a chance Marquardt wasn’t going to pass his medicals. Brenneman was supposed to fight TJ Grant, but Grant was injured. According to Dave Meltzer on his audio show last night, Brenneman was told to stay on weight just in case. So they must’ve known beforehand that something could be up with Marquardt’s medicals.

Marquardt is scheduled to be on the UFC Live on Versus pre-game show tonight in an interview. Hopefully he’ll be able to give us answers about exactly what happened. We’ll be back later tonight with play-by-play of the UFC Live on Versus event, with Pat Barry vs. Cheick Kongo as the new main event.

If word comes out before Marquardt’s interview, I’ll update this post with information.

Update:
Per Ariel Helwani on Twitter:

Nate failed the medical requirements for the fight and was put on suspension by the PA athletic commission until he provides a medical report showing that he’s satisfied those requirements. He was given every opportunity to meet the requirements up until Saturday at 3 pm. The Athletic commission is not free to disclose what requirements he failed to meet.

It was a short turnaround for UFC 131, after a putrid UFC 130. The show was much better, though still, unspectacular at times. Even the heavyweight fight, which was nearly promised to be great, was just an alright tactical battle between one guy who didn’t want to risk getting upset, and another guy who was simply not in the same class on the feet. What should’ve been a great styles clash was in fact, a pretty boring one.

Duan and I give you our thoughts about UFC 131.

Duan
Thumbs In the Middle
Best Fight: Shane Carwin vs. Junior Dos Santos
Worst Fight: Diego Nunes vs. Kenny Florian

After a disappointing run of shows, there was a sense that UFC really needed a good PPV outing this month. While 131 was by no means perfect, it did go a long way towards stopping the rot. While there was no real blow away fights or stand out performances, the action was solid throughout, and I think for the most fans will feel they got their money’s worth.

This card also acted as a reminder why the move towards five round main events is not necessarily for the better. Dos Santos vs. Carwin, despite being wildly uncompetitive and quite one paced, came off like a really big deal. I have a feeling that had it gone another two rounds, people would have lost patience and turned on these guys. If that happened, how would it effect demand for a Velasquez/Dos Santos title fight? It’s something to consider.

GG
Thumbs In The Middle
Best Fight: Demian Maia vs. Mark Munoz
Worst Fight: Diego Nunes vs. Kenny Florian

Sam Stout gave us a vicious knockout. Dave Herman and Jon Olav Einemo gave us a rock ‘em/sock ‘em kind of fight. And Mark Munoz and Demian Maia gave us a fun, strategic battle. Even though all of those things happened, the show still felt a bit anticlimactic because of the main event. I think most of us figured that Junior Dos Santos was going to beat Shane Carwin, but I think we predicted it to be more of a war than it was. JDS fought safe fight and Carwin just couldn’t do anything. Had that fight ended in the TKO we all hoped for, I think we see this show differently.

I was finally able to watch Raw from Monday and while I wasn’t really paying much attention, these days, whenever R-Truth gets on the mic, I have to pay attention. Even though this was written like it was a, “Duck season, rabbit season,” Looney Tunes skit, R-Truth made it work. And he’s right, that crowd didn’t have any home training.

This would make the third WWE PPV I decided to not pay for and watch from the comfort of my own home, and while from what I gather, I’ve been missing some strong wrestling, I’m not missing “can’t miss” angles and superstar performances. Are they going back to Washington DC in June of next year and continue the Capitol Punishment theme?

Two titles changed hands tonight. Ezekiel Jackson is the new Intercontinental champion after beating Wade Barrett in a match that was supposedly better than it had any right to be and Dolph Ziggler beat Kofi Kingston in what looked to be a good match for the US title. Both champions retained their big belts and both reportedly underperformed based on feedback, like from the Twitter hastag #WWECapPun. Though, while Orton/Christian may have not been as good as their previous matches, it was still good and Orton is working after having suffered a concussion only last week. I also heard that CM Punk vs. Rey Mysterio was the best match of the night.

Here are the results:

Dolph Ziggler defeated Kofi Kingston
Alex Riley defeated The Miz
Alberto Del Rio defeated Big Show
Ezekiel Jackson defeated Wade Barrett
CM Punk defeated Rey Mysterio
Randy Orton defeated Christian
Evan Bourne defeated Jack Swagger
John Cena defeated R-Truth

There are four heavyweight fights tonight on the second quarterfinals show in the Grand Prix. KJ Noons also faces Jorge Masvidal. The intrigue to this show is based on the main event. Alistair Overeem is the Strikeforce heavyweight champion, but we haven’t seen him fight much. He faces Fabricio Werdum who took all the steam way from Fedor when he goaded him to the ground and tapped him out in San Jose.

First fight is a heavyweight match-up.

1. Chad Griggs Vs. Valentijn Overeem

Hmmm. Griggs had Overeem up against the cage and Overeem pushed forward. Griggs drop stepped and threw him down, sort of like a hip toss. Griggs started punching on the ground, Overeem turtled, and he tapped.

Winner: Chad Griggs by way of 1st submission (via punches)

2. Jeff Monson vs. Daniel Cormier

Cormier’s boxing looked really solid in the first round. He was pretty comfortable in there and was beating Monson to the punch every time. Monson is ducking his head and turning it, which opens up the back of his head a bit to Cormier’s right hand. All boxing and most of it was Cormier.

Second round was more of the same, though both guys look to be getting a bit tired. Cormier is also using kicks to keep Monson at bay. They clinched against the cage a couple of times, which might’ve been more because of being tired than anything else.
Continue Reading »

This is another great HBO Boxing Face-off video with Max Kellerman.