Per MMABlitz.com, in a big blow to the UFC Live 4 card, headliner Nate Marquardt will not be able to compete against Rick Story on Sunday after failing the pre-fight physical.

Following the failed physical, UFC President posted this, stating Marquardt will no longer be with the UFC

MMAJunkie.com was the first to report on the matter

MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) has learned that Marquardt is a late scratch from Sunday’s UFC on Versus 4 event, and opponent Rick Story (13-3 MMA, 6-1 UFC) will now instead meet Charlie Brenneman (12-2 MMA, 2-1 UFC) on the evening’s main card.

With the late change, a highly-anticipated heavyweight bout between Pat Barry (6-2 MMA, 3-2 UFC) and Cheick Kongo (15-6-2 MMA, 8-4-1 UFC) has now been promoted to main-event status.

The reason for Marquardt’s last-minute withdrawal, mere hours before he was scheduled to hit the scales at the event’s official weigh-ins, wasn’t immediately evident. However, Marquardt’s camp did release a statement insisting the setback was temporary and his future still lies at 170 pounds.

“Nate is really disappointed,” the statement read. “He really was looking forward to making his welterweight debut, and he plans to be back in there as soon as possible.”

Brenneman is the replacement, but that probably won’t suit Story, who took this fight on short notice for a chance to really thrust himself into the title picture. This fight seems like a lose-lose situation for Story.

For Marquardt, it is hard to know what will happen next, but clearly there is still more to this story.

UFC 128 takes place Saturday night from the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey and the main event is a battle for the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship with Mauricio “Shogun” Rua taking on Jon Jones. The card is filled with exciting fights and interesting storylines, so here is a look at who I like to prevail in the five main-card bouts.

UFC Light Heavyweight Championship: Mauricio “Shogun” Rua (19-4) vs. Jon Jones (12-1) – This fight is tough to call. Jones seems like he is an unstoppable force coming in, and is actually favored by oddsmakers. However, this is the biggest fight of his life on the biggest stage and that could affect him mentally. Shogun has looked good in his wins over Lyoto Machida, but he has been off for 10 months because of a knee injury and his last time fighting off an injury, he looked less than impressive. Shogun will show Jones something he hasn’t seen yet, but I think Jones will return the favor. I think the key to this bout is Jones’ wrestling and I see him controlling Shogun in the early rounds before finishing with ground and pound in the third round.

UFC Bantamweight Bout: Urijah Faber (24-4) vs. Eddie Wineland (18-6-1) – Both fighters were former WEC champions and are now making their UFC debuts. Faber likely earns a title fight with a win and coming in he is clearly the better fighter in terms of all-around skills. I see Faber using his quickness and hand speed to set the tone early and then moving to his grappling and submission fighting late in round two to seal the deal. I like Faber by choke in the second.

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Nate Lawson of HeavyMMA.com writes that all drug tests that were submitted for UFC 122 came back negative.

MMAjunkie.com confirmed the news with UFC Vice President of Regulatory Affairs Marc Ratner.

UFC 122 featured a main event between Nate Marquardt and Yushin Okami, along with a lightweight co-main event between Dennis Siver and Andre Winner.

A total of eight fighters were tested for substances such as marijuana and steroids, along with several other illegal substances, and all eight test results came back clean.

The November 13 event took place in Germany. Therefore, no drug tests were issued by a sanctioning body, resulting in the promotion hiring a company to take care of the testing.

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From HeavyMMA.com:

The change was first reported by MMAWeekly.com.

UFC 122 takes place Nov. 13 at Konig Pilsener Arena in Oberhausen, Germany. It will air on tape delay in the United States on Spike TV.

The original Belfort vs. Okami match was scheduled as a title eliminator fight, with the winner receiving the next shot at champ Anderson Silva’s middleweight belt.

Marquardt defeated Rousimar Palhares by TKO in the first round at UFC Fight Night 22 last week. The win put his record at 5-2 since losing his first middleweight title opportunity to Silva in July 2007. After the victory, Marquardt told Heavy.com that he was ready for more championship-caliber opportunities, and it appears that he’ll get just that when he steps in the cage with Yushin Okami.

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Here’s a weekly rundown of MMA content from Ben Goldstein of CagePotato.com:

– Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira conquered fellow MMA legend Randy Couture at UFC 102 last Saturday, while Nate Marquardt, Thiago Silva, and Todd Duffee scored some memorable knockouts. Despite his loss, Couture signed a new contract with the UFC that will keep him fighting in the Octagon until he’s damn near 50 years old.

– MTV “Bully Beatdown” host Jason Miller vowed to “beat the piss out of Jake Shields” when the two fighters meet, and explained his obsession with Twitter.

– We came across an MMA sponsor that’s even more embarrassing than Condom Depot.

– Former NFL player Marcus Jones will be battling for a UFC contract on the upcoming season of The Ultimate Fighter. He credits his start in MMA to one fateful “man-cation.”

– Mike Swick dropped out of UFC 103 due to injury, Sean Sherk dropped out of UFC 104 due to “injury,” and Quinton Jackson dropped out of UFC 107 due to the demands of his movie career. Luckily, BJ Penn will fill in for Rampage as a headliner.

– Strikeforce heavyweight Brett Rogers has come up with the worst strategy possible for beating Fedor Emelianenko.

– Former UFC ring girl Edith Labelle said she was fired over a bout of food poisoning that just happened to *look* like a bad hangover.

– We watched a life-affirming MMA highlight reel, Anderson Silva’s dead-on Randy Couture impression, and a behind-the-scenes look at King Mo’s demolition of Mark Kerr.