UFC middleweight Julian Marquez is not yet a needle-mover for what he does in the Octagon, but as far as what he says after his fights, the native of Kansas City knows how to make an impact with A-list celebrities.
After defeating Sam Alvey with a second-round submission during Saturday's UFC Fight Night in Las Vegas, Marquez used his postfight interview -- which fighters normally use to call out other fighters -- to challenge athletes from a different sport.
"I'm the baddest man from Kansas City, the baddest middleweight in Missouri," Marquez said. "And it's my time right now, so Travis Kelce, Patrick Mahomes, Tyreek Hill, I challenge you guys to a badminton or pickleball competition.
Once again, Julian Marquez's unconventional post-fight callout hit the mark 🎯
— ESPN MMA (@espnmma) April 10, 2021
This time, he's got himself a pickleball battle with three of the NFL's best 😂 pic.twitter.com/m9bwbvNmvP
"Straight up, if you guys want to see who the pound-for-pound champion of Kansas City is, you're coming after me. This magnificent beard tops all of what you guys have to bring."
The Chiefs stars responded. Mahomes said he might need a couple of weeks to prepare while Kelce picked a Kansas City restaurant as the venue and Hill said "I'm down."
It's not the first time Marquez drew a response from a star outside of the MMA world. When he won on Feb. 13, he asked Miley Cyrus to be his Valentines, and she responded she would if he shaved an "MC" into his chest hair.
