Nate Quarry

From CageWiki

1 Profile
2 Early Career
3 The Ultimate Fighter
4 UFC Career
5 Mixed martial arts record
6 Gallery
7 External links

Profile

Nate "Rock" Quarry (born March 18, 1972) is an American professional mixed martial artist and former UFC middleweight title challenger.

He stands 6 ft. (183 cm) tall and fights in the middleweight division (185 lbs.).

He was a castmember of The Ultimate Fighter Season 1 and currently fights as a middleweight for the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC).

Early Career

Nate Quarry made his professional mixed martial arts debut at Extreme Challenge 43 against UFC competitor, Drew McFedries on September 8, 2001. Quarry prevailed in the bout via TKO due to exhaustion.

Quarry's next two fights took place within the Excalibur Fighting organization where he defeated both of his opponents and picked up the promotion's middleweight title.

In February of 2002, Quarry knocked Jorge Lopez cold with a punch at Gladiator Challenge event. That fight was followed with his first professional loss as he was on the losing end of a decision to well decorated Brazilian jiu jitsu practioner, Gustavo Machado.

In October of 2003, Quarry bounced back from the loss with a triangle choke victory over Chris Kiever.

The Ultimate Fighter

In late 2004, Quarry was given the oppurtunity along with 7 other fighters in the middleweight division and 8 fighters in the light heavyweight division to participate in the inaugural season of The Ultimate Fighter. The show would put all 16 mixed martial artists in a mansion with no contact to the outside world, where they'd be forced to interact, train with and eventually fight the fellow members of the weight class with winner being awarded a six figure contract with the UFC.

Quarry was thought of as one of the leading favorites of TUF 1 until he sustained a serious ankle injury which led to his removal from the competition in episode 8. Due to his positive influence on his team, he was allowed to stay on as an assistant coach for Team Couture.

After rehabbing his ankle, Quarry faced off against first round elimination, Lodune Sincaid on the main card of The Ultimate Fighter Finale. Quarry showed why he was considered an early favorite as he punished Sincaid with punches before stopping him on his feet with a crippling body punch and follow up punches.

UFC Career

Quarry returned to the Octagon at UFC 53 to face wily veteran, Shonie Carter in a middleweight attraction. Quarry impressed a great deal of people when he stopped Carter with strikes at just 2:37 of the opening round.

The next bout in line for Quarry was a fight against Pete Sell on the main card of the inaugural UFC Fight Night. In a shortlived bout with a controversial stoppage, Quarry dropped Sell with a punch and as he jumped in to finish the job, referee Cecil Peoples, jumped on top of him to stop the fight. All the while, a very not out Pete Sell objected against the stoppage. Nevertheless the fight was ruled as a TKO victory for Quarry.

With limited options to choose from in the UFC middleweight division, Quarry was the surprise choice to take on champion, Rich Franklin at UFC 56 in November of 2005. The fight appeared to be too much too soon for Quarry as Franklin's size and technique overwhelmed Quarry early. After dropping Quarry early, Franklin landed a left hand that sent Quarry stiff and to the mat with arms and legs in the air. The knockout has lived on in highlight reels ever since.

After the Franklin fight, Quarry was forced into taking almost two years off in order to fix a serious back injury that had been plaguing him for years. The operation was a success and with all his other niggling injuries cleared up Quarry was set to make his return at UFC Fight Night 11 in September of 2007. He faced Pete Sell in a rematch of their August, 2005 bout. Quarry looked rusty early on as Sell racked up the first two rounds on points. The third round was a different story though as Quarry exploded with a vicious punch that left Sell out at 44 seconds of the third round.

In perhaps Quarry's most famous and infamous performance, he faced off against TUF 3's Kalib Starnes at UFC 83, the first ever UFC event to be held in Canada. Facing a Canadian native, things got off to a slow start as Quarry was forced to follow Starnes around the ring as he refused to engage. The second round goes much the same as the first with hometown crowd giving it to their hometown boy. In the third, Starnes once again refused to exchange which led to Quarry resorting to mocking Starnes by first doing the running man and finally doing a move later to be called "The Rock Hammer". The fight ended after three rounds, and Quarry was awarded the unanimous decision with a judge even giving Quarry the fight by a six point margin, the second highest in UFC history.

At UFC 91, Quarry was given a step up in competition when he faced Brazilian jiu jitsu whiz, Demian Maia. Maia's craftiness was too much for Quarry as Maia turned a whizzer into a sweep, eventually securing Quarry's back and choking him until he got the tap.

Quarry will next take the Octagon in Montreal, Canada at UFC 97: Redemption against Jason MacDonald.