Marquardt finally fought Thales Leites at "UFC 85", a fight that had been postponed on two separate occasions since 2006. Marquardt and Leites had a close fight but Marquardt landed an illegal knee strike to the head of Leites in the second round. In the third round Marquardt landed an elbow to the side of the head of Leites. The deducted points proved to be crucial as Leites was deemed victorious in a very close split decision, giving Leites a title shot against Anderson Silva. Marquardt was next scheduled to face Martin Kampmann at "UFC 88". Nate defeated Kampmann in 82 seconds by throwing a head kick and landing a barrage of strikes to take the win by TKO in the first round.