Despite Loss, Nate Marquardt Will Be Back

The first time that Maruqardt fought Anderson Silva at UFC 73, he was overwhelmed by the man who knocked Rich Franklin out as if Franklin was a contestant on "The Ultimate Fighter".

That loss is probably the best thing that happened to him at the time because it showed him that there was another level that he needed to get to if he wanted to be the champion and believe me, Marquardt has ALL the tools to get to that level.

Unfortunately, he had to fight Chael Sonnen at UFC 109 in order to get another shot at Silva. Not many people gave Sonnen a shot even though he had beaten the likes of Jason Miller, Paulo Filho and Yushin Okami prior to beating Marquardt.

Many had Marquardt pegged as THE guy to knock Silva off his perch atop the middleweight division before he got derailed on Saturday night.

Let's face it, Marquardt got out-wrestled by a guy who was a two-time University National Champion in Greco Roman wrestling, the same style that Randy Couture has used to win title after title over his career.

It would be a tough task for anybody to get off their back with a guy of that level of wrestling on top of you and Marquardt actually did it in the third round after being pounded on for almost 15 minutes.

Following the loss, Marquardt admitted that he made crucial mistakes that cost him another title shot.

"I didn't fight smart. I should have stopped the takedowns before going for the knock out. I'll learn from this and continue to work hard," Marquardt wrote on his official website.

So to say that Marquardt missed his opportunity would be an accurate statement, but he'll be back. Don't forget that he's only 30-years old and has one of the best teams behind him with Greg Jackson's camp out of New Mexico.

We could be looking at this most recent setback as the thing that pushed him over the top.