Eliot Marshall didn’t get the call from the UFC to fill in as a replacement at UFC 128. He called them.
Marshall, who had been cut from the promotion following a March 2010 loss to Vladimir Matyushenko, noticed that several UFC light heavyweights were dropping off cards due to injuries.
“I was like, ‘Man, they’re going to need some help.’ I had my management contact them, and there we go,” Marshall said recently on the Sherdog Radio Network’s “Beatdown” show.
It didn’t hurt that Marshall has gone 3-0 since exiting the UFC. Most recently he submitted Chris McNally with an armbar on Dec. 11. He wasn’t going to wait on the UFC to rediscover him, though.
“Maybe part of the reason I got back was because [UFC matchmaker] Joe Silva was tired of me pestering him every time someone got hurt,” Marshall said. “I stayed in his ear. Sometimes the squeaky wheel gets some oil.”
Marshall will fight Luis Artur Cane Jr. on March 19. The Brazilian has lost back-to-back fights to Antonio Rogerio Nogueira and Cyrille Diabate.
“I don’t really look too much at those fights because he was fighting southpaws, and he probably wasn’t used to fighting southpaws,” Marshall said. “Each fight’s different stylistically. I’m just going to go in there and fight my fight.”
He expects Cane to stick to his usual game plan as well.
“I expect what he’s done in every other fight,” Marshall said. “He comes forward and he goes to throw. I doubt it’s going to be any different.”
Before losing to Nogueira and Diabate, Cane was a top 10-ranked light heavyweight with three impressive UFC wins. Now he’s likely in danger of getting cut if he loses to Marshall.
“He can’t take three losses and be in there,” Marshall said. “I’m sure he needs to win. He needs to win, and I’m going to win. That’s just how it is.”
While Cane’s back is probably against the wall, Marshall isn’t worried about taking another loss.
“I just had, in my opinion, the worst possible thing that can happen to you … you lose and you get cut. I’ve already had that happen,” Marshall said. “I’m not afraid of it. I’m not scared of it. It just is what it is. If I lose and they cut me again, OK, it’s not like it’s something I haven’t experienced before.”
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