Nate Marquardt

Image Credit: UFC.com

Nate Marquardt says ‘God spoke to me’ as reason for MMA comeback

Nate Marquardt is 40-years-old and has not fought since November of 2017 but has come out and said he is making a comeback.

Why is making a comeback despite going 3-9 to end his career, is simple? He says God spoke to him and he hasn’t stopped training since he retired.

“Well it’s kind of a crazy story, man, but I had a dream.” Marquardt said to MMA Junkie. “God spoke to me, and he confirmed it later in the week by two people I’ve never met before and one friend, as well, that basically I’d be fighting again.

“That was it, man. After I retired, I didn’t train for like two months, and I actually started feeling really bad physically. I was like, ‘Oh man, I need to get back in the gym,’ so I started lifting weights, running, sparring and grappling a little bit, and then I had the dream. So basically, when I retired, I thought that that was it, but I haven’t stopped training. I love mixed martial arts, I love doing it. I love competing. But, I really didn’t have a huge desire to compete in it. I was just going to train and maybe teach and stuff like that.”

Nate Marquardt is currently a free agent so he is open to fighting for different promotions. Rumors have said it could be Bellator, but wherever he fights, he says he may fight at welterweight.

“That’s another thing: I lost like eight or 10 pounds,” Marquardt said. “I wasn’t lifting weights that much, and in that aspect, I feel better. In wrestling and in sparring, I haven’t lost any strength. I kind of cut the weightlifting out because that part was a little hard on my joints, but the sparring and the wrestling, it makes me feel my body better, so my weight has gone down. My cardio is good now, so I’m right at the  point where I can go either way. I can easily go to 170 at this point, so that’s something I have to think about.”

In the end, Marquardt says he still has a future in MMA and is excited to return to fighting.

“I’d say, you know, that’s reasonable,” Marquardt said. “That’s the natural reaction to hearing news like this: ‘He’s too old; he’s past his prime.’ But I know I have a future in this sport.”

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Cole Shelton
Cole Shelton covers MMA for BJPenn.com, MMANews, and MyMMANews.com while also being the lead MMA odds writer for Sports Betting Dime