Nate Marquardt x Demian Maia- I don't even think its fair to say that this fight is a "big step-up" in competition for Maia.  When placing Maia's past opponents under a microscope, Marquardt is almost in another galaxy.  Although Maia's wins are very legit and showcased the seamless fluidity of his stupefying BJJ technique, Herman and Sonnen can be defined as being prone to submission, Macdonald wins his fights with the same weapon as Maia, but Maia simply carries the higher caliber gun, and Quarry is a solid, well rounded fighter who Maia was able to coax into his trap. Marquardt, quite conversely, is one of the most experienced grapplers in MMA.  He is a 7-time King of Pancrase, and the reason those guys were slapfighting and wearing funny black boots is on account of Pancrase being a highly technical grappling and submission-centered organization.  Nate has nearly 40 fights that can be traced back to 1999, and holds a black belt in BJJ himself.  His striking has really taken off since joining the ranks of the esteemed Greg Jackson training camp, the best of which was on display when he toppled Kampmann and Gouveia with a burst of strikes.  He has really only been bested by Anderson Silva, as the semi-questionable point deductions surely were the deciding factor in his loss to Leites, solidifying himself alongside Dan Henderson as the top contenders at MW, with Okami lurking in the background behind the veil of his undercard status.  (For whatever its worth, I don't understand why we haven't seen fights between these top 3 contenders, all of which I would enjoy.) There are more factors weighing upon the Scales of Justice than Nate's ability to deal with Maia's extraordinary BJJ.  Not only is Nate on an entirely different level on the ground than Maia's past victims considering his patience, experience, ground-n-pound, submissions, and submission defense, but Maia must first gain access to the amusement park in order to ride the rollercoaster.  Although confident in his mat skills, Nate will fiercely defend the takedown with his solid wrestling, measured footwork, and crisp striking.  Maia's best chances lie in sneaking into the clinch and snaking himself around Marquardt with a clever guard-pull, ala' Aoki, but he will leave himself susceptible to a barrage of strikes when entering the clinch and inside of  it, as well as on the ground should he take the fight there, where Nate will take a very safe, slow, and methodical approach.  Maia himself has rated his stand up as a "5", and I feel that even though his one dimension could be the best in MMA, its still only one dimension.  Marquardt holds the strong advantage in every conceivable concept except straight submissions.  My guess:  Marquardt by decision

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