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[Sakara=Excitement]

Marquardt vs. Palhares official as UFC Fight Night 22 headliner, Maia off card | MMAjunkie.com

As expected a middleweight bout between Nate Marquardt (29-9-2 MMA, 8-3 UFC) and Rousimar Palhares (11-2 MMA, 4-1 UFC) originally slated for UFC 118's main card now serves as the new UFC Fight Night 22 headliner.

MMAjunkie.com (UFC blog for UFC news, UFC rumors, fighter interviews and event previews/recaps | MMAjunkie.com) first reported the new main event on Monday, and the UFC recently made it official.

As part of the change, original main-event fighter Demian Maia (12-2 MMA, 6-2 UFC) – who lost opponent Alan Belcher (16-6 MMA, 7-4 UFC) due to a detached retina – has been removed from the card.

UFC Fight Night 22, which precedes the debut of "The Ultimate Fighter 12," takes place Sept. 15 (two-and-a-half weeks after UFC 118). The Frank Erwin Center in Austin, Texas, hosts the Spike TV-televised event.

Maia, a former middleweight title challenger, and Belcher, who recently underwent surgery for his ailment, will be shifted to later cards.

Marquardt looks to rebound from a unanimous-decision loss to now-top contender Chael Sonnen, which came at UFC 109 in February. The loss, which propelled Sonnen to his title shot, snapped Marquardt's three-fight win streak (against Martin Kampmann, Wilso Gouveia and Maia – all of which came via knockout) and delivered a setback in his quest for a second title shot against current champ Anderson Silva.

The Team Jackson fighter now meets Palhares, who looks for his fourth consecutive victory in the UFC. During his recent streak, the Brazilian Top Team fighter earned a decision victory over Jeremy Horn and heel-hook submission wins over Lucio Linhares and Tomasz Drwal. He's now won nine of his past 10 fights, and eight of the victories have come via stoppage.

The official UFC Fight Night 22 card now includes:

MAIN CARD
Nate Marquardt vs. Rousimar Palhares
Mac Danzig vs. Matt Wiman
Jim Miller vs. Gleison Tibau
Cole Miller vs. Ross Pearson

PRELIMINARY CARD
Efrain Escudero vs. John Gunderson
Nick Catone vs. Tomsz Drwal
Rich Attonito vs. Rafael Natal
Jared Hamman vs. Kyle Kingsbury
David Mitchell vs. Anthony Waldburger

[Chute_Boxe44]

I'm kinda dissapointed about this in all honesty. Not that 118 is lost by any means with the fight now gone, but it takes away from its well roundedness. I don't think it really fits into this weak fight night. But hey, wata ya gonna do.

Clearly they are planning on matching up Okami with Maia now

[NLRepublic]

Originally Posted by Chute_Boxe44

I'm kinda dissapointed about this in all honesty. Not that 118 is lost by any means with the fight now gone, but it takes away from its well roundedness. I don't think it really fits into this weak fight night. But hey, wata ya gonna do.

Clearly they are planning on matching up Okami with Maia now

I feel ya.. Boston Card went from crazy wicked awesome to just crazy wicked.

I sort of wish they came up with something else and just let the Belcher injury effect 1 card as oppose to 2

[end it with a left]

the ufc makes me want to try crack sometimes just so that i could maybe get an idea of wtf they were thinking when they do shit like that. Didn't palhares take a lot of heat for holding a heel hook too long? lets put this guy on live t.v wheres theres more potential critics than on a ppv card where its fans watching not soccer moms flipping the channels to see some guy screaming in agony as another guy rips his foot off. like what could their reasoning to move this fight back 2 weeks i do not see how this helps them out in any way

[H33LHooK]

Originally Posted by end it with a left

the ufc makes me want to try crack sometimes just so that i could maybe get an idea of wtf they were thinking when they do shit like that. Didn't palhares take a lot of heat for holding a heel hook too long? lets put this guy on live t.v wheres theres more potential critics than on a ppv card where its fans watching not soccer moms flipping the channels to see some guy screaming in agony as another guy rips his foot off. like what could their reasoning to move this fight back 2 weeks i do not see how this helps them out in any way

Drama much?

I'm looking forward this fight. Palhares is a sub' beast, and Nate hasn't seem very elusive.

Palhares by anaconda...

.

[Chute_Boxe44]

Originally Posted by end it with a left

the ufc makes me want to try crack sometimes just so that i could maybe get an idea of wtf they were thinking when they do shit like that. Didn't palhares take a lot of heat for holding a heel hook too long? lets put this guy on live t.v wheres theres more potential critics than on a ppv card where its fans watching not soccer moms flipping the channels to see some guy screaming in agony as another guy rips his foot off. like what could their reasoning to move this fight back 2 weeks i do not see how this helps them out in any way

haha relax dude, its not like he beat the man over the head with a hammer or something. do you honestly think the man is gonna make the same mistake twice in a row?? I HIGHLY doubt it.

It helps them out because it allows two top contenders in the middle weight division get even more exposure to a wider audience. That's how. I'm not saying its the best move they could have made, but at the same time its not a retarded move or anything. So chiiiiiillll Winston. Its just business.

[CHAEL fan]

Originally Posted by end it with a left

the ufc makes me want to try crack sometimes just so that i could maybe get an idea of wtf they were thinking when they do shit like that. Didn't palhares take a lot of heat for holding a heel hook too long? lets put this guy on live t.v wheres theres more potential critics than on a ppv card where its fans watching not soccer moms flipping the channels to see some guy screaming in agony as another guy rips his foot off. like what could their reasoning to move this fight back 2 weeks i do not see how this helps them out in any way

Don't watch then, change the channel.