UFC’s Julian Marquez challenges Chiefs players to a pickleball match

Kansas City native and UFC middleweight MMA fighter Julian Marquez has challenged a trio of Kansas City Chiefs players in the strangest of ways.

After taking down Sam Alvey in the second round of their match in UFC’s Fight Night event in Las Vegas, Nevada on Saturday, Marquez issued a post-fight challenge. He wasn’t calling out another UFC fighter, though. Instead, he issued his challenge to Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelce and Tyreek Hill.

No, he’s not asking them to get into the Octagon for a fight with him. Marquez wants the Chiefs’ star players to face off with him in a Pickleball match to determine who the “baddest man in Kansas City” truly is.

Check it out:

“Now I have a call out to give to everyone from Kansas City. This is the thing, you guys know, I’m the baddest man from Kansas City, the baddest middleweight in Missouri,” Marquez said. “And this is one thing, this is 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 me, as the pound-for-pound champions from Kansas City, you’re coming after me. This magnificent beard tops all of what you guys have to bring.”

I think Kelce might have something to say about that last bit about the magnificent beard.

Never backing down from competition, the trio of Chiefs stars eagerly accepted the challenge from Marquez. Though, Mahomes noted he still needs a few weeks to recover from the surgery he had to repair his turf toe injury.

Hopefully, Marquez and the trio of Chiefs players can set this up in the future and have it benefit a local Kansas City charity. It’s probably for the best not to get our hopes up, though. Knowing how things typically go with offseason sports activities, Brett Veach will shut this down quicker than a pickup basketball game at the local YMCA.

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Chiefs news roundup — 4/11/2021