Finally back in the win column, Nate Marquardt attributes recent woes to 170-pound weight cut

Who says you can't go home again?

Longtime Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) veteran Nate Marquardt is back in the middleweight division and not coincidentally, back in the win column as well, following a "Great" performance over James Te Huna last Saturday (June 28, 2014) in New Zealand.

Watch him get the job done right here.

Marquardt (34-13-2) came into their Auckland affair on a three-fight skid, but later blamed the difficult drop to welterweight for his shady performances. Not just the process of making weight, but the inability to refuel his body during training camp, which essentially hindered him from peak performance.

From the UFC Fight Night 43 post-fight press conference:

"My training was suffering because of the diet. So I wasn't getting the right training and I wasn't able to recover from my workouts. I think the cut the week of the fight was affecting me in the fight, and I believe this is where I'm supposed to be, at 185. I don't think I was meant to fight at 170. I had early success fighting Tyron Woodley, and so once I had that success, it took a lot to kind of knock sense into me. It finally worked after my last fight."

I guess God was right after all.

Marquardt is one of the rare instances where a fighter actually dropped weight coming off a win. Prior to submitting Te Huna overseas, "The Great" spent 15 minutes knocking around Dan Miller at UFC 128 in early 2011. That preceded his 1-3 run at 170 pounds so as far as his current division, he's still 7-3 since getting smoked by Anderson Silva back in 2007.

Marquardt, it would appear, is "back." But is he better than ever?