Nate Marquardt is one win away from earning another shot at the UFC middleweight title when he faces Yushin Okami in the main event of UFC 122 in Oberhausen, Germany. Okami stands in his way with the same title aspirations on the line.

He’s a very solid opponent” said Marquardt on TapouT Radio. “He stays very strong and very composed throughout the fight no matter who he is fighting. He’s good at distance, so he’s very hard to hit. He has good takedown defense, so he’s hard to get on the ground. And I think that’s one of his best things, he’s hard to do anything to.

He’s a very hard guy to attack, so unless I can get him to come out of his shell and kind of attack me more, it could be a chess match until I find that opening and who knows how long that will take because this is for a title shot and I’m not going to go in there and try to put on the most exciting fight and lose the fight,.”

Definitely I want to be exciting, but the main thing is I want to win this fight. Obviously if I get the chance I’m going to knock him out or submit him, but the number one thing for me is to win this fight, and for me, I have to follow the game plan.”

The game plan going into this fight is going to be a big thing for me. If I can follow my game plan and find my shots and find the openings to attack him, that’s where I’m going to be able to win the fight.”

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