UFC 158’s main card is back to full strength today with former Strikeforce welterweight champion Nate Marquardt stepping in to fight Jake Ellenberger.
Ellenberger was originally supposed to fight Johny Hendricks in the co-main event, but an injury to another high-profile welterweight on the card, Rory MacDonald, forced the UFC to shuffle the pack with Hendricks now set to fight Carlos Condit instead.
Marquardt lost his Strikeforce welterweight title to Tarec Saffiedine in the promotion’s last ever show in January so this is a chance to get back on track in a profile fight in the UFC just a couple of months later.
He faces a serious challenge though against Ellenberger who’s produced an impressive 7-2 record during his time in the UFC.
It’s an intriguing, competitive match-up and certainly helps to soften the blow of MacDonald’s injury call-off, so overall I don’t think this late re-shuffle of the fight card is going to have an impact on the level of interest in the show.
