Nate Marquardt puts CB Dollaway to sleep

UFC middleweight Nate Marquardt knocks fellow contender CB Dollaway out cold in their bout at UFC on Fox 17.

Don’t count UFC middleweight contender Nate Marquardt out yet.

Marquardt came in to tonight’s fight with the No. 12 welterweight CB Dollaway having lost his last two fights against competitors in the bottom half of the rankings. Marquardt arguably could have been cut from the UFC if he lost to Dollaway, but he made an immediate statement.

Dollaway came at Marquardt with ruthless intention in the fight’s second frame. He pressed Marquardt up against the cage and started swinging for the fences. The crafty Marquardt uncorked a crafty counter-right hand that knocked Dollaway out cold. Marquardt was able to drop a few hammer fists on the face of Dollaway before he was pulled off.

This is a great win for Marquardt. “The Great” looked like he was seconds from retirement after fighting Kelvin Gastelum at UFC 188. Marquardt looked tired, slow and spent. A move to a different promotion seemed imminent for a man who was close to a title shot just years ago.

The fact of the matter is that the most athletic fighter and most active fighter does not always win. Sometimes the smarter fighter tends to fare better when he is under siege. Dollaway tried to finish the fight early, and Marquardt made him pay for being overly-aggressive. This is a great win for one of the more classy guys in the UFC. Marquardt has been in many wars in the cage, and did not deserve to go out the way he did against Gastelum.