Marquardt’s trainer: Nate woke up, expect fireworks
After Nate Marquardt lost a close decision to Yushin Okami at UFC 122, Dana White offered blunt criticism of Marquardt’s…
After Nate Marquardt lost a close decision to Yushin Okami at UFC 122, Dana White offered blunt criticism of Marquardt’s Team Jackson corner.
“Marquardt is such a talented guy, and what I’m seeing is stuff from the Greg Jackson camp. This camp continuously – when these guys fight, their corner is either telling them they’re ahead or they’re winning” White said.
“I mean, Nate Marquardt sat here tonight and said that he thought he won the fight. Where the f— is his corner? You go into the last round and you’re getting outstruck by a wrestler, and you think you won the fight? And this is consistent with the Greg Jackson camp.”
Now Marquardt’s trainer Grudge Training Center head Trevor Whitman is taking qualified responsibility.
“It’s one of those things where Dana had talked s— about us doing the right thing in the corner, but I don’t think he heard that right,” Wittman said. “We were miked up. It’s not what we said.
“I actually told Nate that I thought he lost the fight. Greg Jackson said the same thing going into the third round. I thought we needed a knockout to win the fight. We told him that.”
“I take full blame on the last fight. I felt the gameplan that I had put together and built, I don’t think I structured it correctly for Nate to go out there and do what he had to do to win the fight. It’s one of those things where I thought Nate’s counter-punching was stronger and more precise and well-timed. But we got outworked.”
“I wasn’t working on a lot of having Nate finish combinations with extra shots to the head or the body. It was just petty much counterpunching … It was more of an issue of not going on to Plan B. I take full responsibility for him not going out and getting the finish in that fight.”
Now Marquardt faces late-replacement Dan Miller on the main card of UFC 128 Saturday night.
“The loss to Okami awoke Nate like it did when he lost Silva,” Wittman continued . “You can really expect fireworks in this next fight.”
“In this next fight, Nate is a new dude. He’s risen so many times to No. 1 contention and then let it fall out of his hands. Not anymore.”
“Nate is to the point where he doesn’t care about winning or losing. It’s time to perform. When he talks like that, it’s a different Nathan Marquardt.”