Marquardt clowns Maia, wants title shot

I feel badly for Demian Maia. He looked like a kid with a lost puppy after Nate Marquardt knocked him out just 21 seconds into Saturday’s UFC 102 showdown between the top middleweight contenders. The blast earned Marquardt the $60,000 Knockout of the Night bonus.

Maia is a Brazilian jiu-jitsu master who was 10-0 (5-0 in the UFC) prior to the bout. Getting the fight to the ground was his entire game plan, it just wasn’t supposed to be face first.

Marquardt only threw one punch and he timed his right hand perfectly, catching Maia in the face mid-kick and off-balance and sending the grappler airborne and spinning 180 degrees before crashing to the mat. Respect to Marquardt for recognizing that Maia was dazed and defenseless and not firing any more punches even before the referee stepped in.

While Maia heads back to the drawing board – some more striking classes are definitely in order – Marquardt looks ahead. Marquardt (29-8-2 MMA, 8-2 UFC) lost to middleweight champ Anderson Silva at UFC 73, so does the impressive defeat of Maia earn him a rematch or will UFC president Dana White have him fight Dan Henderson to determine who gets a shot at the title? I say make him fight Henderson next and let Silva play around at 205 pounds for another fight.