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After UFC 116 opponent Alessio Sakara was forced out of their matchup because of the death of his father, Nate Marquardt (29-9-2 MMA, 8-3 UFC) has been moved to August's UFC 118 card and will fight Rousimar Palhares (11-2 MMA, 4-1 UFC).
Sources close to the event told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) verbal agreements are in place for the fight, though the bout could be shifted to UFC 117, which takes place earlier in the month.
Canadian MMA reporter Joe Ferraro first reported the possible bout on Tuesday.
Although the UFC has not officially announced the event, UFC 118 is expected to take place Aug. 28 at Boston's TD Garden with a headliner featuring a lightweight title-fight rematch between new champ Frankie Edgar and ex-title-holder B.J. Penn. UFC 117 is expected to take place Aug. 7 at Oracle Arena in Oakland, Calif., with middleweight champ Anderson Silva vs. Chael Sonnen.
Marquardt looks to rebound from a unanimous-decision loss to Sonnen, which came at UFC 109 in February. The loss, which propelled Sonnen to his title shot, snapped Marquardt's three-fight win streak (all of which came via knockout) and delivered a setback in his quest for a second title shot against current champ Silva.
The Team Jackson fighter now meets Palhares, who looks for his fourth consecutive victory in the UFC. During his recent streak, the Brazilian Top Team fighter earned a decision victory over Jeremy Horn and heel-hook submission wins over Lucio Linhares and Tomasz Drwal.
Palhares' only loss in the UFC came to Dan Henderson in 2008. He's 9-1 over his past 10 fights.
Great matchmaking here, this is definetly better than Sakara-Nate, i would give Palhares a chance here, Nate as weve seen doesnt have the best TD defense in the world and Palhares striking would have improved since the Hendo fight you would think.
I think this is a dangerous fight for Nate ranking wise but a great fight for us
I wonder who Okami's next opponent will be, i think either Belfort or Munoz. Belfort is back training by the way and says his shoulder feels great on his twitter account. He's hoping for a return in September.
Your thoughts?
, and i dont know how he lost the heal hook looked like he was hindered by the cage.
