Julian Marquez has his next celebrity targets in sight.
Three months after catching the eye of pop star Miley Cyrus with a memorable post-fight Valentine’s Day callout, Marquez used his interview time on Saturday to issue a challenge to the stars of the NFL’s Kansas City Chiefs.
Marquez put veteran Sam Alvey to sleep with a second-round rear-naked choke submission on the UFC Vegas 23 main card, then went into full promo mode live on ABC.
“I am the entertainment you paid to see, but ABC gave it to you for free,” Marquez said. “So now I have a callout to give out to everyone from Kansas City. You guys know I’m the baddest man from Kansas City. The baddest middleweight in Missouri and this is one thing, it’s my time right now.
“So Travis Kelce, Patrick Mahomes, Tyreek Hill, I challenge you guys to a badminton or pickleball competition. Straight up, if you guys want to see who the pound-for-pound champ is in Kansas City. This magnificent beard tops all of what you guys have to bring.”
Like with Cyrus, Marquez’s callout didn’t fall on deaf ears as the Chiefs players responded later in the evening via Twitter:
Chiefs quarterback Mahomes wrote, “Need a couple weeks but I’m always down for a challenge,” while Kelce suggested, “We can settle ALL this up at Chicken N Pickle! LFG!!!”
Hill completed the trifecta of responses, simply adding, “I’m down.”
Marquez’s own star is certainly rising after recording his second straight finish and third win in four UFC fights, so we shall see if he ends up hitting the badminton court against the Super Bowl LIV champs.