By SHOWDOWN JOE FERRARO
sportsnet.ca
While Nate Marquardt (29-8-2) was awaiting a potentially pending bout with Dan Henderson for UFC 108, it appears he has decided to move on and face Chael Sonnen (24-10-1) instead at UFC 110.
Sources have informed me that the two are awaiting bout agreements and will be added to an already stellar card that the UFC is building for their debut in Sydney, Australia in February.
Marquardt is coming off a stunning KO victory at UFC 102 versus Demian Maia, a bout he ended with a devastating right cross, that looked like a video-game, highlight-reel finish just 21 seconds into the first round.
For Sonnen, the UFC rewarded him with this contender bout after he dismantled and completely controlled Yushin Okami at UFC 104, earning a unanimous judges’ decision. Okami had always been considered a highly touted contender and was mentioned many times as a potential challenger to current champion, Anderson (The Spider) Silva. After a variety of injuries and a disappointing performance against Sonnen, the latter was bumped up the middleweight food chain and is inching ever so close to a crack at the champ.
The hype for UFC 110 is already building with scheduled and rumoured bouts including a middleweight fight between Wanderlei (The Axe Murder) Silva vs. Yoshihiro Akiyama (13-1), a heavyweight tilt between Mirko (Cro Cop) Filipovic (25-7-2) and (Big) Ben Rothwell (30-7), a light-heavyweight match-up between Canadian Krzysztof Soszynski (18-9-1) and Stephan Bonnar (11-6) as well as the Octagon debut of Australia’s own light heavyweight James Te Huna (12-4).
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