Nate Marquardt (25-7-2) was on top of the world heading into his Middleweight title shot against Anderson Silva (20-4-0) at UFC 73 back in July. Unfortunately he came up short against one of the top pound-for-pound fighters in the world. The Houston Chronicle’s Brawl Sports blog had previously reported that Marquardt had not been contacted by the UFC matchmakers about a return to the Octagon since his loss. Well a few days later, Marquardt told the Houston Chronicle’s Steve Sievert “Joe Silva called this week to talk about my next fight and to discuss a new contract”.

After Silva’s second straight victory over former UFC Middleweight Champion Rich Franklin (22-3-0), the UFC is strapped for possible opponents to put against him. It’s possible that Marquardts’ last fight against Silva was just a bad night, but he’s going to have to work his way back up before he gets another chance to prove it.

Marquardt did tell Sievert that, “I definitely want to fight Rich, but I have a feeling it’s not going to happen”. According to the blog, Franklin wants to take some time off before he steps back in, while Marquardt wants to come back from his extended time off.