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.

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