Just watched the countdown show and I am so pumped for Maia-Marquardt. Although Nate realises that his best chance of winning is standing up, i sense that he also wants to prove that he can hang with Maia on the ground too.....big mistake. I want Maia to take this guy out impressively....if he can do so, then you have to give him a legit shot vs Anderson Silva. Wanderlei (Maia's training partner) was saying how Maia toys with him on the ground. This guy's ju-jitsu is on a whole nother level. I think UFC are really missing a trick by having this at 3rd billing. I can understand that they need the big names at the top to sell the card, but they should give it prominence over Jardine-Silva. Two, lower top 10 light heavyweights.....neither guy is going to be getting close to a title shot anytime soon. Maia is a potential superstar, and he's unique.....his ground game is so superior to that of anyone else's, he could really capture the imagination. Machida is unique in a different way, and look at the impact he's had. Perhaps that is all to come, and the UFC are waiting to see if this fight proves him as the real deal or not before they put their hype machine into overdrive.....but they've jumped the gun before with guys with far lesser talent than Demian.
I couldn't believe it when I saw Jardine/Silva above Maia/Marquardt. Like you said, no matter who wins with Jardine/Silva, neither guy is close to a title shot. But from everything I have read Maia/Marquardt has all but been said to be a title eliminator fight.
Henderson is pretty much promised the next title shot, so whoever wins this will either end up on the shelf forever, or Silva will vacate and they will end up facing Dan for a vacant title.
This is the problem when champions want to hold onto their belt at lower weights and challenge at higher weights. Now that the Forrest fight is over, Silva's next fight no doubt should be against Dan. If he doesn't want it, drop the belt and move up to 205. The division shouldn't be held hostage while he decides where he wants to fight.
Maia is a fighter who will soon be cracking everyone's P4P lists. He may have the best subs in all of MMA. I think he's gonna take out Marquart pretty easily and take his place as one of the top fighters in the game. If he wins, look for him to leapfrog Henderson and get the next title shot. TFK
The way i understand the title situation, purely from reading between lines, is that if either guy really shines tonight, especially Damien (as Dan and Nate already have a Silva loss on their records), then they'll get the shot. A boring decision victory, with the boos of the crowd ringing in their ears as they leave the cage, won't be enough.
