The first round of the UFC 128 middleweight bout between Nate Marquardt and Dan Miller was predominately a grappling match, despite a handful of solid punches on the feet from Marquardt. Early on, Miller looked to secure a take down. Once secured, Miller was unable to do anything with it, and was soon taken down himself. On two occasions, Miller looked for a guillotine choke, but Marquardt's savvy ground game allowed him to stay out of trouble, and work some ground and pound.

In the second round, Marquardt was able to score well with lunging straight rights, rocking Miller once. The striking wasn't quite one sided though, with Miller landing solid counter shots early in the round. With superior striking and damage, Marquardt easily took the round, despite defending another close guillotine choke after he scored a take down of his own.

In the final frame, the bloodied Dan Miller began to land well with a counter uppercut as Marquardt rushed in with his right hand, but not before his left eye was even worse for wear. The majority of the round saw Marquardt working strikes from inside Miller's guard, staying active enough to avoid a stand up. Miller put up a tough fight, but it wasn't enough to defeat Nate "The Great" Marquardt.