Marquel Mederos discusses earning a UFC contract on Dana White’s Contender Series
Marquel Mederos couldn’t of made a better impression on UFC president Dana White and now he’s in the UFC.
Mederos fought on the final episode of the seventh season of Dana White’s Contender Series and he provided a highlight reel knockout.
In the opening round of his fight with Issa Isakov, Mederos found himself in a grappling exchange with his back against the cage. Eventually, he worked his way out of the exchange and that’s when he took over the fight.
Being able to fight from both the orthodox and southpaw stances, Mederos would not only continuously change his stances, but he was able to land great strikes from both sides.
After eating several big shots, Isakov would try to shoot in for a takedown, but Mederos read it perfectly and landed a big knee that knocked out Isakov.
As soon as the knee landed, White jumped out of his seat and cheered on Mederos for a great performance in which he easily gave Mederos a UFC contract.
For Mederos, its the beginning of what he expects to be a long career with the UFC. It is certainly a time to celebrate, but it’s also a time to reflect on the road he took to get to the UFC and that journey got started with a phone call that Mederos never taught he’d make.
When Mederos was four-years-old he was estranged from his father and grew up poor. While he was in school, he would lie to his mom and say he was working extra shift at In-N-Out Burger, but really he was going out and selling marijuana.
After getting into some trouble, Mederos was kicked out his house by his mother and made a phone call to his father with whom he hadn’t spoken to in more than 10 years.
His father took him in and introduced him to jiu-jitsu and the rest is history. After learning about the combat sports world from his father, Mederos would study the sport and eventually end up at Factory X in Colorado where he still trains at today.
Following his win on Dana White’s Contender Series, Mederos spoke with MyMMANews about his childhood, the phone call to his father that changed his life and now being a member of the UFC roster.
You can watch his full interview in the video above.
A full list of results from Dana White’s Contender Series: Season 7, Week 10 are listed below:
Ramon Taveras defeated Cortavious Romious by TKO (punches) – Round 1 (0:29)
Andre Lima defeated Rickson Zenidim by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
Connor Matthews defeated Jair Farias by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)
Torrez Finney defeated Yuri Panferov by submission (rear naked choke) – Round 2 (2:43)
Marquel Mederos defeated Issa Isakov by knockout (knee) – Round 1 (4:09)
Lucas Rocha defeated Davi Bittencourt by knockout (knee) – Round 2 (0:18)
*Bold names received a UFC contract
