How was Christmas at the Marquardt household?
This year, my family and my wife’s family all came over on Christmas Eve, so it was fun.
Are you the kind of dad who spoils his kids rotten with gifts, or do they get clothes and books and stuff?
Actually, we told the kids we weren’t gonna get them any presents, that we were just going to buy gifts for a family in need, but we secretly bought them each one gift.
I can’t imagine that went over well with your three kids when you told them no gifts.
Well, the two youngest are one and two years old, so they don’t really know the difference anyway. But the oldest, she’s 13 and was really cool about it. She has pretty much everything she needs anyway, so it wasn’t a big deal to her.
Have you thought about your “Dad Speech” for when your daughters start dating and gentlemen callers come to your door?
Uhh yeah…basically, she’s going to be 21 years old before she’s allowed to date, so it won’t be a big deal at that point [laughing].
Are you joking or are you being serious?
Well, I mean, it definitely won’t be allowed before she’s 16 years old.
You’re a nice guy, but sometimes in fights you turn into killer Nate Marquardt. Is there a switch you intentionally flip or is it more subconscious?
I guess it happens subconsciously, because I’m definitely preparing myself in the locker room, but it doesn’t really happen until the ref says “go.”
You must cut a ton of weight to make 170 pounds. What’s your food of choice after your fight?
Oh pizza, man. I crave pizza all the way through camp. Part of it is my diet is very low-sodium, and that’s just for my health, so I crave salty foods, and for the weight cut I’m really low in saturated fat. So that pizza just sounds soooo good, with the carbs, sodium, and saturated fat. That’s actually one of the main duties of my manager—to have pizza in the dressing room after my fight.
What is the worst job you’ve ever had?
That’s hard because I’ve had a few really bad ones, but I think the worst job overall was when I worked customer service for a wireless company, and people would call in to deactivate their service, usually be cause they were upset [laughing], and it was my job to try to fix their problem and convince them to stay with the company. Dealing with upset people all day is not a fun job.
That sounds like that could drive a man to become a professional fighter.
Oh yeah, my favorite comedy is Office Space. I really think that movie was a good portrayal of that life. It feels like pretty much everything that was in that movie was in my life.
Did you ever take a fax machine out into the field and beat the shit out of it?
No, but that scene was awesome!
Who is the better at dodging tough questions at press conferences, Dana White or Scott Coker?
Well, it depends on what you mean by “better.” Scott Coker is more diplomatic. Dana is just more in-your-face, and basically just says what he’s thinking. They both get the job done, it’s just two different ways of going about it.
You appeared in an MC Hammer music video. I can’t imagine you ever thought your fighting career would take you there.
Yeah, well obviously he’s a part of my management team, and he wanted an intro with us in the video. It wasn’t really a big deal. It was just us kind of hanging around in our suits, but it was cool to
see him shoot the rest of the video and do a bunch of other stuff on his own. He’s been a great guy to work with, he’s super intelligent, and he’s got a lot of experience in the entertainment indus- try. He really knows what he’s doing.
Where is your Strikeforce championship belt right this second?
It’s got a little bag that it came in, and it’s just kind of laying in the front room in a corner.
You don’t have a special shrine or anything?
No, eventually I’m sure I’ll make one of those. But right now, I’m just interested in getting more belts.
Maybe when the boys start coming over you can walk around with the belt and send a message.
Yeah, exactly [laughing]. They need to see what they’re up against
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