Dana White hinted yesterday that two fighters who were unceremoniously ejected from the UFC, Nate Marquardt and Anthony Johnson, could one day make a return to the promotion.
Marquardt was given the boot last year after he tested positive for elevated levels of testosterone the day before an event he was supposed to be headlining. Marquardt was briefly suspended by the commission, but was able to explain the medical circumstances behind the failed test and soon after was given the green light to continue fighting, but the damage was done and the door to the UFC remain firmly shut.
After that Marquardt signed up to British promotion BAMMA, but he recently arranged to be released from his contract after a series of scheduled fights were either scrapped or postponed.
That leaves the former UFC middleweight No.1 contender looking for a new home and White has indicated that he’s not completely against the idea of him returning to the fold.
“I don’t dislike Nate. I like Nate very much. We’ll see what happens,” he told reporters at yesterday’s UFC On FOX 2 presser.
Meanwhile, Anthony Johnson was released from his contract earlier this month after he failed to make wieght for his latest fight by a whopping 11lbs. This was the third time ‘Rumble’ had missed weight during his time in the UFC despite the fact that on this occasion he had moved up to middleweight, and for Dana White that was the last straw.
A couple of weeks later White has also indicated that we may not have seen the last of the dangerous striker in the UFC, but from the sounds of things he’s got some work to do first before he gets the call back to the big leagues.
“He needs to go fight somewhere else, get some wins and come in on weight. [If] he gets a few fights under his belt and does that, we’ll talk.”
It’s good to hear that these two fighters haven’t been completely dismissed as they are certainly both good enough to warrant a place on the UFC roster.
