Life without testosterone replacement therapy has been "challenging," Nate Marquardt today told reporters during a media teleconference, but it hasn't derailed his career.
"I've had to find a lot of ways to combat it, and I've had to change my training schedule," Marquardt (31-10-2 MMA, 0-0 SF) said in advance of his fight with Tyron Woodley (10-0 MMA, 8-0 SF) at "Strikeforce: Rockhold vs. Kennedy." "But bottom line is, I'm training hard and I feel great. I've felt like this before in training and done awesome."
And after ceasing use of the controversial treatment earlier this year, Marquart said he wants to move on with his life.
"I'm so sick of answering TRT questions," he added. "You'd think the media would want to talk about something new anyway. It's kind of old news. But I've got a title fight coming up, and I feel great."
The onetime UFC middleweight challenger meets the undefeated Woodley for the vacant Strikeforce welterweight title on the July 14 fight card, which takes place at Rose Garden in Portland, Ore., and airs live on Showtime and Showtime Extreme.
Marquardt's career is back on track after meeting a sharp roadblock due to TRT. This past June, he was not medically cleared to headline UFC on Versus 4 opposite Rick Story and was publicly cut by the UFC.
Marquardt later revealed that he was undergoing treatment for low testosterone prior to the fight and, at his doctor's recommendation, took a high dose that spiked his hormone levels above the allowable limit and prompted him to be suspended by the overseeing athletic commission.
After nearly eight months in career limbo, Marquardt, who was scheduled to make his welterweight debut at UFC on Versus 4, was in February signed to Strikeforce and attached to Woodley for a title bout in the Zuffa-owned promotion's anemic 170-pound division. During today's teleconference, he repeatedly expressed gratitude at the opportunity given him after his recent tribulations.
"I believe God's been testing me," he said. "I just feel really grateful at this point. It's been a rough road; I feel like I've overcome the challenges, and I'm just excited to get back in there. I feel like a kid again with one of my first fights."
Marquardt hasn't fought since besting Dan Miller on points at UFC 128 – a bout for which he received a temporary therapeutic use exemption for testosterone that was later denied when his hormone levels spiked – but said his experience would beat back ring rust.
Moving from middleweight to welterweight, he said, was even less of a concern.
"It's funny because everyone always thought I was a big middleweight, but actually, weight-wise, I was one of the smaller middleweights," he told MMAjunkie.com (
UFC blog for UFC news, UFC rumors, fighter interviews and event previews/recaps | MMAjunkie.com). "I found it fairly easy to fight at 170. I was trying to keep muscle-mass on at 185, and now, I just train and the weight comes off."
Long considered a perennial middleweight contender in the UFC, Marquardt failed to capture the middleweight title against current champ Anderson Silva at UFC 73. Two subsequent runs at the belt ended in disappointment when he was outpointed by Chael Sonnen at UFC 109 and Yushin Okami at UFC 122. UFC president Dana White openly criticized the latter performance, and Marquardt subsequently targeted a move to the welterweight class.
If victorious in July, the Strikeforce title would serve as the second major title won by Marquardt, who was a three-time King of Pancrase in his earlier career.
