Nate Marquardt vs. Thales Leites UFC 85 fight possible

by MMAmania.com on Mar 11, 2008 8:11 PM EDT Comment 20 comments

Marquardt - Leites
Perhaps the third time will be the charm.

Nate Marquardt (26-7) and Thales Leites (12-1) are once again slated to meet in a middleweight showdown this time at UFC 85 at the O2 Arena in London, England, on June 7, according to GracieMag.com.

The two fighters have been booked to face off on two previous occasions -- Ortiz vs. Shamrock: "The Final Chapter" in October 2006 and UFC 81: "Breaking Point" earlier this year -- but both were scrapped for different reasons (visa issues and broken hand, respectively.

Accordingly, it's a match up with which Leites is very familiar.

Here's a snip from the Brazilian:

"After waiting for so long, he has been really well studied. I had already seen two of his fights before, I know he's dangerous, experienced and really aggressive. He knows how to fight standing and on the ground, he's a tough guy to take down and has a good guillotine."

Indeed, Marquardt sunk in a vicious fight-ending guillotine choke to finish Leites' replacement at UFC 81, Jeremy Horn, in the second round of their encounter.

He has a perfect record inside the Octagon sans a technical knockout loss to UFC Middleweight Champion Anderson Silva back in July 2007.

Leites -- a Nova Uniao Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt -- has not competed since submitting Ryan Jensen with an armbar at UFC 74: "Respect" in August 2007. He's on a three-fight win streak since dropping his Octagon debut to Martin Kampmann via unanimous decision in November 2006.

The hand injury that he sustained training for the Marquardt bout in February has healed, according to the report, and hopefully both fighters can avoid drama outside the cage leading up to the bout and hook 'em up once and for all.

For the most recent rumored UFC 85 fight card click here.

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Comments

marquardt via awesomeness

by keystone on Mar 11, 2008 8:21 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Title should read:

UFC 85: Nate Marquardt vs. Thales Leites fight possible

Grammatically speaking, of course.

by Dave on Mar 11, 2008 8:43 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Title should read:

UFC 85: Nate Marquardt vs. Thales Leites fight possible

Grammatically speaking, of course.

This is headline writing for robots, not English teachers.

by MMAmania on Mar 11, 2008 8:50 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Finally get to see this fight…about time.

I say winner takes on winner of Franklin/Lutter.

by Buster Bluth on Mar 11, 2008 8:59 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

nate should be next for a title shot after a couple more wins…

by JIZZO on Mar 11, 2008 9:22 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

i hope it does go through, third time a charm i hope

by bryant on Mar 11, 2008 9:38 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

I hope this fight finally happens. It’s a great match-up between 2 very skilled fighters. Whether standing or on the ground it promises to be an exciting fight. I’d like to see Leites put together a couple more wins and get a title shot, his BJJ is phenomenal.

by GregC on Mar 11, 2008 10:12 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

nate deserves to fight danny abbadi.

by bradpittfightclub on Mar 11, 2008 10:39 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

this would be entertaining. it is funny to see this weight class fighting for second place.

by kavedaddy on Mar 11, 2008 10:41 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Finally get to see this fight…about time.

I say winner takes on winner of Franklin/Lutter.

Definitely!

Franklin/Marquardt would be crazy, but who knows if either one of them will win. They both have tough fights.

by Cool Hand Chad on Mar 12, 2008 12:42 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

i say franklin has a much better chance to win agaisnt his opponent then nate marquardt…i see lutter as great ground practitioner….but he is just a les well rounded version of jason mcdonald. franklin will stuff his take downs and pick him apart in the stand up and just punish him from top control. franklin is well versed in his submission game and knows well enough how to defend them! while marquartd on the other hand hasnt had too much of a mental block on his return agaisn jeremy horn i doubt he can hold up too long against leites hands and pretty good ground game…anyways nates chin is suspect and leites has a very tough jaw on him!

by twisted203 on Mar 12, 2008 12:50 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

oh by the way id rather see them feed bisping to nate marquardt and see what happens in that fight…they both have similar styles but i think nates overall experience will submit him!

by twisted203 on Mar 12, 2008 12:52 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Definitely!

Franklin/Marquardt would be crazy, but who knows if either one of them will win. They both have tough fights.

Franklin is going to crush Travis Lutter, I dont even know why Lutter is considered top 10 in his division, oh yeah, because its one of the sorriest divisions in MMA.

by brendan on Mar 12, 2008 1:30 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Definitely!

Franklin/Marquardt would be crazy, but who knows if either one of them will win. They both have tough fights.

Agreed. Winner takes on Franklin, other fighter takes on Lutter.

Let’s do this already!!

by Oddchild on Mar 12, 2008 7:16 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Agreed. Winner takes on Franklin, other fighter takes on Lutter.

Let’s do this already!!

Throw Ricardo " Big Dog " Alemaida the mix.

by PhilQNY on Mar 12, 2008 8:43 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

I am a huge Thales Leites Fan, and I really hope that this match happens because a win over Nate would put tHales towards the top of the division and probably needing only 1 more big win for a title shot!

by john on Mar 12, 2008 8:57 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

I am a huge Thales Leites Fan, and I really hope that this match happens because a win over Nate would put tHales towards the top of the division and probably needing only 1 more big win for a title shot!

I’m with you John. We have been bringing up the name “Thales Leites” for like at least a year now. He is super slick. However, I am not getting my hopes up for this fight. Hopefully the third time will be a charm and we will finally get to see this very interesting MW matchup.

by ViolentMike on Mar 12, 2008 11:30 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs