THE CANADIAN PRESS
OBERHAUSEN, Germany — Yushin Okami earned a middleweight title shot with a unanimous decision over Nate (The Great) Marquardt at UFC 122 on Saturday.
Marquardt had the early advantage after taking down Okami, but the Japanese fighter pulled free from a guillotine-choke attempt.
After a indecisive second round, Okami (10-2) cut Marquardt in the third with a jab. Marquardt (9-4) managed another takedown on Okami, who again got free and continued striking at his opponent.
The judges scored it 29-28, 30-27, 29-28 for Okami, who will face either current middleweight champ Anderson Silva or Vitor Belfort after their fight in February.
In the co-main event, Italy’s Alessio (Legionarius) Sakara was forced to withdraw from his middleweight match against (El Conquistador) Rivera because of flu-like symptoms.
Winnipeg native Krzysztof Soszynski (4-2) used a third-round assault to score a unanimous decision against Goran Reljic (1-3).
German lightweight Dennis Siver (5-4) applied a rear-naked choke to submit Andre Winner (2-3) at 3:37 in the first round.
Welterweight Amir Sadollah (4-2), winner of "The Ultimate Fighter 7", won a unanimous decision against Peter Sobotta (0-3).
Meanwhile, welterweight Duane (Bang) Ludwig (3-2) edged Nick Osipczak by way of a 28-29, 29-28, 29-28 split decision.
On the preliminary card, Vladimir Matyushenko defeated Alexandre (Cacareco) Ferreira by technical knockout at 2:20 in the first round.
Pascal Krauss scored a unanimous decision against Mark Scanlon, while Kyle Noke submitted Rob Kimmons with a rear-naked choke in the second round.
Karlos Vemola beat Seth Petruzelli by first-round TKO and Carlos Eduardo Rocha used a kneebar to submit Kris McCray in the first round.
