A middleweight bout between Nate Marquardt (29-9-2 MMA, 8-3 UFC) and Alessio Sakara (15-7 MMA, 6-4 UFC) will be part of UFC 116.

A source close to one of the competitors told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) that bout agreements are in the process of being finalized and that the fight will be part of the night's televised main card. MMA reporter Joe Ferraro first reported the possibility of the fight on Twitter.

Although not officially announced by the organization, UFC 116 takes place at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas and airs on pay-per-view.

UFC heavyweight champ Brock Lesnar meets interim title-holder Shane Carwin in the headliner of the Independence Day weekend event.

Marquardt looks to rebound from a unanimous-decision loss to Chael Sonnen at UFC 109. The loss, which propelled Sonnen to a title shot, snapped Marquardt's three-fight win streak (all of which came via knockout) and delivered a setback in his quest for a second title shot against current champ Anderson Silva.

The Team Jackson fighter now meets Sakara, who's quietly amassed a three-fight win streak with knockout victories over Joe Vedepo and James Irvin and a split-decision win over Thales Leites. Prior to the recent streak, the American Top Team fighter went just 2-4 in the UFC and was on the verge of being dropped by the promotion.

Source: http://mmajunkie.com/news/18889/nate-ma ... n-july.mma

That photo must be OLD! He looks way more stacked than he does now at middleweight. (And much less inked.)