Okami beats Marquardt in UFC 122 middleweight fight
Though he has spent most of the past few years as a contender in the Ultimate Fighting Championship middleweight division, Yushin Okami insisted last week he didn’t believe he had been unfairly passed over for a title shot.
He said he thought he would be given the chance to fight for the belt when he earned the opportunity.
Okami went out and did just that with a unanimous decision over Nate Marquardt in the main event of UFC 122 in Oberhausen, Germany, on Saturday.
The perception of Okami is that he is a grinding fighter who provides little excitement but usually finds a way to win.
He did little to dispel that notion in edging Marquardt, who lost his second No. 1 contender fight this year.
Okami escaped several submission attempts in the first round and rallied to take it with a surge that included a late takedown.
Marquardt rebounded in the second round but was cut in the third and lost out to Okami’s relentlessness in the mind of the judges.
Okami, who has won six of his past seven fights, took two cards 29-28 and won all three rounds on the other card.
With the win, Okami has positioned himself to fight the winner of the February bout between Vitor Belfort and middleweight champion Anderson Silva.
“Nate is a great fighter, but I felt I deserved it,” Okami said through a translator. “I want to fight Anderson for (the) championship, and I want to become the middleweight champion.”
Okami is the last fighter to defeat Silva, though it came as a result of disqualification in 2006 before either fighter was in the UFC.
A bout between Jorge Rivera and Alessio Sakara, scheduled to be the No. 2 fight on the card, didn’t take place. Sakara became ill and could not compete.
German fighter Dennis Siver thrilled the home fans with a first-round submission of Andre Winner. The other three bouts on the main card went the distance.
Krzysztof Soszynski and Las Vegan Amir Sadollah each won unanimous decisions, and Duane Ludwig took a split decision over Nick Osipczak.