The name may not be familiar to you as a fight fan, but I’m sure if you asked your wife who Marquel Martin was she would know.
The 26-year-old was a cast member on Season 10 of ‘The Bachelorette’ and is currently on this summer’s guilty pleasure ‘Bachelor in Paradise’. Why would we write about him on a mixed martial arts site you may ask? Well the answer is simple, he is employed by the UFC.
How does a guy who works for one of the largest mixed martial arts promotions go from that to being on one of the largest TV shows on ABC? The answer was quite simple.
“I work for great people,” Martin told Sucka Radio. “Dana [White], my boss Mike Mossholder and Lorenzo as well — when I approached them about potentially being on the show they were very supportive and the next thing you know I was in L.A.”
The Sponsorship Sales Coordinator for the UFC not only works in his own little office, but works with the various departments in the company. So he must walk around on a daily basis passing fellow male employees — that must have been tough returning from the filming process.
He is at UFC Headquarters each and every day, so he brushes shoulders with the likes of UFC President Dana White quite often. Being a dude he must get quite razzed by his fellow male employees about being on both shows.
“It’s tough. Of course I get supported, but at the same time the guys joke around with me. If I ever see Dana around the office he teases me a little bit. So I just take it on the chin — no pun intended,” said Martin. “Everyone is pretty cool. My experience on the show was great, I tried to represent the company as best I could, but as you could imagine us being a global fighting company and me going to fall in love it sometimes comes with others teasing.”
Not only were his workmates supportive, but President White was also very happy for Martin to join the cast of The Bachelorette. His way of telling him may not have been the most professional, but when you work for the UFC why wouldn’t you ask him that way?
“Me and Dana kind of developed a rapport with one another and he’s just awesome and easy going. The first time I met him I was kind of nervous, but I always cross paths with him in the gym because we workout downstairs. I just came up to him and was like, ‘hey I just want you to know before most of the people in the company that I just got approached and I’m not sure if I’ll be selected, but I just wanted to let you know and see if it was ok with you if I was selected to go on the show.’ And he was like, ‘absolutely.’ He supported me 100% and I’m forever grateful for that and Lorenzo and my bosses they were super supportive.”
There is a possibility that Martin could become the next Bachelor. In fact there are a number of fan pages created on Twitter and Facebook pushing for that. There are definitely some things to think about for the Las Vegas native to undertake the opportunity, but if it knocks then he is all game.
“Myself personally, I know I would do it, because I believe in the entire process,” Martin said. “Obviously it’s easy to become a skeptic of the process, but I watched first hand some of my friends on the show fall in love in the first two weeks. If you lend yourself to that experience, let yourself have an open-mind and open-heart so to speak then it’s very possible.”
“When I returned home from my stint on The Bachelorette, it was so shocking to see the support I received from the fans and it was very humbling. Don’t get me wrong — people sometimes have these ideas that some guys try to go on there and go to be the next Bachelor or people already have the idea of who the next Bachelor is, but I had no dream of even being in that conversation of being the next Bachelor. It was a huge kind of complement, I was extremely flattered that I was at least in the conversation and would I consider it? Absolutely. I’m not up in arms about it, but ultimately the decision goes to ABC, the whole crew and America of course.”
Martin has worked for the UFC since October 2012, so he has seen his fair share of fights in the mecca of MMA — Las Vegas. He doesn’t consider himself an expert at the sport, but he knows talent when he sees it and his favorite fighter is one of the sport’s pound-for-pound best ever.
“My favorite fighter to watch live is Anderson Silva. I think his style and the way that he carries himself — be it that the first fight I ever saw him in person, that’s when he lost to Chris Weidman. But at the same time, I’m just a huge fan of his confidence in the Octagon. He kind of reminds me of Muhammed Ali kind of style. He’s kind of a mind game, he’s super quick and super intelligent.”
Fighters, like any other athlete have personalities. Some of which are easier to deal with than others. For Martin however, one person made him realize that these guys are much more down to earth than any other sport celebrity on earth.
“The most down to earth person that I’ve met is Travis Browne,” stated Martin. “I had to do a Harley Davidson Watch Party with him in South Dakota and I was still kind of relatively new to the company. Knowing that this guy is 6’7″ and a 250-pound fighter obviously is intimidating. I just remember that maybe he wouldn’t even want to speak with me, but it couldn’t have been better. For my first experience with a fighter like that he was very easy going, funny guy, nice, down to earth, treated me with respect and that goes for all of the fighters that I’ve encountered — everyone is super nice. I guess I kind of see it now because there is no reason for them to be jerks because they know how to fight and generally they are just overly kind. I bet a lot of people wouldn’t assume that would be the case. For sure Travis Browne changed my whole perspective on any kind of preconceived assumptions.”
For now, Martin will continue his day job with the UFC and you can continue to watch him on Bachelor in Paradise on ABC each and every Monday at 8|7c. He is an avid poster on Instagram and you can also follow him on Twitter.
To listen to the full interview with Marquel Martin check out his episode on Sucka Radio HERE.
