• UFC 122

Sonnen factor looms over Marquardt and Okami

Yushin Okami has a win over Anderson Silva on his record © UFC

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Marshall Zelaznik has revealed he has rarely seen two fighters looking as motivated as Nate Marquardt and Yushin Okami ahead of UFC 122.

The middleweight pair have a simple route to the title laid out in front of them: Win on Saturday, and the crack at the UFC middleweight crown belongs to them.

Marquardt has been in such territory once before, losing to Anderson Silva at UFC 77. Okami fared better against the Brazilian back in 2006, winning via disqualification following an illegal kick. Either Silva or Vitor Belfort, another UFC icon, will hold the belt following UFC 126 in February of next year, and Zelaznik insists Marquardt and Okami are desperate to earn No. 1 contender status.

"I can't wait to see the fight because Nate is one of the most well-rounded guys in the division, while Yushin has really great ground-and-pound," Zelaznik told ESPN. "I'm really interested to see this reach the clinch and see where it goes.

"There seem to be some fighters who, despite holding immense skill sets, are consistently inconsistent. Cheick Kongo springs to mind. Yushin is the same kind of performer, but in fairness there is always someone else he's dancing with and both men are hugely motivated for Saturday's fight."

Should Marquardt or Okami go on to claim the title next year, there is no doubt that the figure of Chael Sonnen looms large over the division. Currently suspended due to a failed drugs test, Sonnen has beaten both of Saturday's co-main event fighters in the past year and had been in line for a title rematch before his disciplinary setback, and Zelaznik admits the Greco-Roman wrestler would certainly enter back into contention once his punishment is behind him.

"It's difficult to know how the ground will lie in the division when everything gets resolved, but certainly he's going to be right up there again for Joe [Silva] and Dana [White] to figure out where he fits," comments the UK UFC president. "He was teed up to challenge for the belt again, so it's not a big stretch to imagine he will figure back up there."

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