What is pickleball and who did Julian Marquez call out for a game?

Julian Marquez faced off against Sam Alvey in a middleweight matchup at UFC Vegas 23. In a dominant performance, Marquez picked up a second-round victory by putting Alvey to sleep with a rear-naked choke.

Julian Marquez then went on another bizarre callout, targeting NFL stars Travis Kelce, Patrick Mahomes and Tyreek Hill in the post-fight interview. The Kansas City native challenged the Chiefs' stars to a match of either badminton or pickleball. Claiming to be the baddest man from Kansas City, Julian Marquez said in the post-fight interview:

“I am the entertainment you paid to see, but ABC gave it to you for free. 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.”

Once again, Julian Marquez's unconventional post-fight callout hit the mark 🎯This time, he's got himself a pickleball battle with three of the NFL's best 😂 pic.twitter.com/m9bwbvNmvP

— ESPN MMA (@espnmma) April 10, 2021

To test himself against NFL stars, Julian Marquez chose the rather uncommon sport of Pickleball. It is a paddleball sport with borrowed elements from table tennis, badminton and tennis. Played in Washington for the first time in 1965, it consists of two or four players using short-handed wooden paddles and a perforated polymer ball.

Julian Marquez and celebrity callouts

Julian Marquez might have shocked the world by calling out athletes from a different sport, but true fight fans are no strangers to celebrity callouts from him. The 'Cuban Missile Crisis' previously called out popular American actress and singer Miley Cyrus at UFC 258.

"Miley Cyrus, will you be my Valentine?"@JMarquezMMA used his mic time for an unconventional callout 😅 #UFC258 pic.twitter.com/lWdwMRpoNS

— ESPN MMA (@espnmma) February 14, 2021

Entering the Octagon as a sizeable favorite, Julian Marquez engaged in a slugfest with Maki Pitolo at UFC 258. While the entertaining contest went back and forth, Marquez was able to sink in the guillotine to submit Maki Pitolo at 4:17 in the final round.

In a post-fight interview with Joe Rogan, normally used for calling out fellow fighters, Julian Marquez called out Miley Cyrus to be his Valentine.