| 13 September 2010
A usual conference call happened to me the other day; I was listening and asking questions to the participants of the co and main event for UFC Fight Night 22 this Wednesday in Austin. Efrain Escudero and Charles Oliveira, the co-main event, exchanged pleasantries and how they prepared for their upcoming fight. After them the competitors, for the main event, Nate Marquardt and Rousimar Palhares were on and taking questions. After both came in and answered some questions from reporters, I asked Nate Marquardt what were his thoughts on Dan Hardy’s comments.
Now if you have not heard by now Dan Hardy has said not so nice things about wrestlers in the UFC. "You should work for 15 minutes to knock your opponent out, submit him, or improve your position to give yourself the best chance of doing either… but there's guys out there who just want to use wrestling to hold a stalemate for 15 minutes, without ever risking going for ground and pounds or attempting submissions. This isn't 'cheating within the rules' – it is actually against the rules. 'Timidity' is outlawed in the Unified MMA rules and what better describes the act of holding on to an opponent and waiting for the clock to tick down with no attempt or inclination to do any damage?"
In the UFC there have been waves of different styles ruling the octagon; wrestling, striking, jiu-jitsu. There were times when the guillotine was a for sure tapout, but now fighters have found a way to either stop it from happening or break out of it.
When I was able to ask Nate Marquardt about the situation his reply stood out from the rest of the conference. "I think wrestling is a big part of MMA, and you shouldn't complain about it, you should learn it and learn how to defend against it."
The comment goes after Hardy who lost his last match to George St. Pierre when he was out wrestled. His fellow teammate Paul Daley did not fare any better when he faced Josh Koscheck and was outwrestled for three rounds; he took out his frustration by punching Koscheck after the bell, a move that cost him his career in the UFC.
Since his last loss came at the hands of a wrestler, Chael Sonnen, who better that Nate Marquardt to ask for their opinion on wrestlers. "I was unable to defend the takedowns in my last fight, and that's why I lost the fight…now I'm going to be more prepared to defend the takedown no matter who I'm fighting, and I worked hard on my wrestling and I continue to work hard on my wrestling."
There’ll always be waves of different fighting techniques; it’ll take a strong fighter to overcome them. Matt Hughes beat Royce Gracie by out wrestling his jiu-jitsu, Chuck Liddell used his striking to defeat the legend Randy Couture, and George St. Pierre learned how to out wrestle anyone in his weight division.
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