UFC 110 Fight Announcement: Nate Marquardt v. Chael Sonnen

A major middleweight bout is being planned for UFC 110 in Australia according to SportsNet.ca:

While Nate Marquardt (29-8-2) was awaiting a potentially pending bout with Dan Henderson for UFC 108, it appears he has decided to move on and face Chael Sonnen (24-10-1) instead at UFC 110.

Sources have informed me that the two are awaiting bout agreements and will be added to an already stellar card that the UFC is building for their debut in Sydney, Australia in February.

Sonnen is coming off a dominant win over long time top 10 fighter Yushin Okami at UFC 104. The win established Chael as a legitimate contender in a 185 pound division littered with the bodies of champion Anderson Silva’s victims. A win over Nate Marquardt would almost certainly put Sonnen in a position to get a shot at the UFC’s pound-for-pound king.

Nate Marquardt has seemed to be a different fighter in recent fights, displaying a more aggressive and dynamic striking approach. His most recent win was over Demian Maia in under thirty seconds. The fight had positioned Marquardt for either a rematch with Anderson Silva or a title eliminator bout with Dan Henderson. Contractual issues have Henderson on the shelf and Silva is out of a scheduled bout with Vitor Belfort following elbow surgery.

The middleweight situation is such that Marquardt/Sonnen becomes a true marquee fight in the division.