UFC
UFC 122 PREVIEW: Yushin Okami expecting "excellent exhibition of mixed martial arts" in most important fight of his career against Nate Marquardt
Nov 3, 2010 - 7:00:43 PM UFC 122 PREVIEW: Yushin Okami expecting "excellent exhibition of mixed martial arts" in most important fight of his career against Nate Marquardt

DISCUSS ALL THIS IN OUR NEW MMATORCH FORUM

...OH, ONE MORE THING - PLEASE BOOKMARK US & VISIT DAILY!

By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

While the MMA world continues to wind down from "Brocktober" and the news of the UFC/WEC merger, the UFC still has a couple of events coming up this month. First up is the return to Germany with UFC 122; and although fans and pundits alike have been talking about the possibility of a lightweight fight between Gilbert Melendez and Eddie Alvarez outside of the UFC, this event brings a true #1 contender fight between two of the best middleweights in the world in Nate Marquardt and Yushin Okami.

Okami discussed the upcoming headlining bout for the UFC's countdown show.

"[Nate Marquardt] is a complete, technical fighter and he has no weakness," Okami said. "[He's] a very high level, all-around fighter. Marquardt and I can show the fans what real mixed marital arts is. I think people will be able to see an excellent exhibition of mixed martial arts."

The winner of this fight will take on the winner of the UFC 126 main event between Anderson Silva and Vitor Belfort. If it remains Anderson Silva, both fighters will be looking forward to a rematch with "The Spider." However, Okami's focus simply remains on the title shot, and he believes this may be his final opportunity to earn one in the UFC.

"All of the UFC fights are important to me. But this fight is very important to me because it's a doorway for a title shot," Okami said. "I'm looking at this fight as my last chance. My ultimate goal in the UFC is to become the first Japanese champion. This fight will lead me to that goal. So this is the most important fight of my career."

UFC 122 airs via tape delay in the U.S. on Spike TV on November 13, and takes place from the Konig Pilsener Arena in Oberhausen, Germany.

Penick's Analysis: This is an excellent fight here between what essentially are the #2 and #3 middleweights in the world with Chael Sonnen out on suspension. And although some are down on the event as a whole, this is a high level fight that could really be very entertaining. That's not the word that comes to mind when Okami fights most of the time, but I'm not sure that Marquardt is capable of putting on a "boring" fight in 2010. I'm really looking forward to this fight, and the winner could potentially get their long awaited rematch with Silva.