Thales Leites vs. Nate Marquardt Set for UFC 85

Visa issues forced Thales Leites (12-1 MMA, 3-1 UFC) to cancel a scheduled October 2006 bout with Nate Marquardt (26-7-2 MMA, 5-1 UFC), and then a broken hand forced him out of a second attempt at the fight last month at UFC 81. However, the two UFC middleweights will give the fight a third try at UFC 85 in London.

The fight has been accepted and Marquardt has signed a bout agreement.

UFC 85 takes place June 7 at the O2 Arena in London, England. Chuck Liddell meets Marquardt's training partner, Rashad Evans, in the night's main event.

With the UFC's middleweight division short on contenders, the winner of the Leites-Marquardt bout could inch very close to a potential title shot.

After Leites pulled out of the UFC 81 fight, Marquardt instead took on late replacement and veteran fighter Jeremy Horn. Marquardt dominated the fight and earned a second-round victory after securing a guillotine choke. It was the 28-year-old's seventh victory in his past eight fights, with the only loss coming in a title shot with Anderson Silva at UFC 73.

Leites, a 26-year-old Brazilian, made his UFC debut at The Ultimate Fighter 4 Finale and dropped a unanimous decision to middleweight standout Martin Kampmann; it was the first loss of his career. Leites has bounced with a three-fight winning streak, which includes victories over Pete Sell, Floyd Sword and Ryan Jensen.