UFC middleweight Julian Marquez has had quite the 2017.

“The Cuban Missile Crisis” went a perfect 3-0, with all of his victories coming by way of stoppage. While a three-fight winning streak is solid on its own, Marquez's wins each represented significant strides for his career trajectory.

His first win of 2017 came against Cameron Olson at LFA 12 in May, a fight Marquez won by devastating knockout in the first round. This helped him (literally) punch his ticket to the UFC, as it earned him the opportunity to fight in front of Dana White during the UFC President's Contender Series in August. With an impressive win, Marquez would make a definitive statement and prove himself ready for the biggest stage in MMA. 

Standing in Marquez's way was highly touted prospect Phil Hawes. While Hawes received the majority of the attention and hype going in, none of that mattered, as Marquez kicked his foe viciously in the face, sending him crashing to the canvas. 

Dana White’s jaw — as well as everyone else's — dropped, and Marquez earned himself a UFC contract.

Finally, Marquez’s third fight of 2017 came against UFC veteran Darren Stewart at UFC on Fox 26 in Winnipeg, Canada, on Dec. 16. Marquez and Stewart put on a fun, back-and-forth war that eventually saw Marquez secure the second-round submission, kicking off his UFC career in style. 

“I don't really know, it's amazing, it's the most amazing thing you can possibly have,” Marquez told FloCombat when describing his UFC debut victory. “It really hasn't hit me yet. Honestly, it's amazing to finally have your UFC debut, [and to] have it the way that I had my UFC debut. I couldn't ask for a better showcase. I couldn't ask for a better performance. I couldn't ask for a better weight cut. I couldn't ask for the amazing stuff that happened to me. 

"It's amazing, but again it just feels like I just won another fight. I feel like it's the same thing. Like, I've been here before, I've been in the situation before. It just feels all natural, it feels normal.”

The fight truly was an amazing showcase. Stewart and Marquez both hurt each other several times during the fight, stunning each other regularly throughout the two-round slugfest.

“The punches didn't feel good at all,” Marquez said. “I got cut on my lip — badly enough that right now I can't eat anything with a high amount of salt on it, so that sucks. The other punches didn't take me out. They felt as if we had boxing gloves on and it felt like I was getting hit with hard punches. I knew they were hard but they weren't really anything that was taking me out.”

(Photo Credit: Bruce Fedyck-USA TODAY Sports) 

Dubbed “The Cuban Missile Crisis,” Marquez holds his Cuban roots close, a point he made clear when discussing his family's journey. 

“It's everything to me. It's who I am,” Marquez said. “I am a Cuban-American. My family struggled to get here to America and they made something of themselves. They went from having nothing to being able to have my whole family in one city and all of them become successful people." 

Although Marquez was born in Kansas City, Missouri, he leans on those Cuban values and lessons as he continues his MMA career.

"I really believe that helped me out in being a fighter," Marquez said. "It helped me have the heart that I have towards people [and] the love that I have towards people. It helped me be the person I am today and have the personality I [have] today with my family treating me how they are, joking with me, being out in the public and joking and laughing and being who they are no matter what anyone's saying or [if anyone's] watching. It means the world to me.”

Despite the love for his roots, Marquez has never been to Cuba, but he believes visiting his family's homeland is something he will do when he’s ready. A trip to Cuba will be no vacation in his eyes. Rather, it will be a learning experience and a chance to connect even more to his family's struggles and triumphs. 

"When I was a younger kid, my grandfather, who was the strongest man I have ever met in my entire life — like you could cut him with a knife and he would wrap a towel around his hand and go back to work, it didn't faze him — he was supposed to be in Cuba for 10 weeks when I was a kid, and he goes to Cuba," Marquez said. "I come home from school, and my grandfather's back, he's back in two days, and he wasn't the same. I saw him crying. 

"At the time I didn't really comprehend Spanish as well as I do now, and I just remember me thinking, 'I don't like seeing him like this,' and that haunted me." 

While Marquez understands Cuba's natural beauty and appeal, he also understands it is a very different lifestyle — one that can be difficult to process. 

"Cuba's a beautiful place," Marquez said. "You see all these photos and stuff, but to see our family members out there and the struggle they have and what they're going through while we're over here and everyone's happy that they're making this amount of money and buying stuff that they don't need and saying things like, 'I need more money, I need this,' and then you go to these people that are struggling to provide for themselves, like parents aren't eating just so they can provide food for their children... It just comes to a point like, 'Where does your selfishness end?’ and that's why I'm afraid to go to Cuba. 

"I don't want to see my family members struggling. As I go and get stronger, I hope to be able to help them out as well, but it's so hard for us to help people, family members in Cuba, out. It's just hard. There's a lot of things you have to go through and a lot of things that can get you in trouble too.”

One thing that has defined Marquez's MMA career is his work ethic. The former Bellator fighter currently juggles a part-time job as a server to go along with his UFC career, which could be seen as an overload of work and stress. 

But don’t tell Marquez he needs to quit his job. He won't have it. 

“I love it. I love working. It's so fun,” Marquez said. “I don't get it when people are like, "Stop working.' I work as a server, and I've served tables for the majority of my life and it keeps me grounded, it keeps me humble. It forces me to remember where I came from and I get to talk to random people. 

"It's fun talking about your fights and stuff, but after weeks of people constantly bringing it up and asking you questions, you just want to get away from that." 

That's where serving comes in. 

"Fighting is super stressful," Marquez said. "There's a lot of ups and downs, and you need an escape. My job is my escape because I'll have conversations with random people that I'll make laugh, they'll sit there and laugh — well, some will sit there and laugh. Others stare at me like I'm some insane dude with two black eyes. 

"They laugh and they tell me stories and I get to understand a different perspective from a guest that has no idea that I fight. They have no idea of who they just met, and I'm nobody. Like, literally, I'm just a regular dude, there's nothing different about me. We're all humans and what's awesome is when I go there and I talk to these people, they treat you like a human being and they tell you stories of their struggle or their happy time or their jokes." 

This, to Marquez, is just another element of his overall journey to progressing not just as a mixed martial artist but as a person.  

"You learn from people, and you learn what to do and what not to do, where to have fun and when to say what," Marquez said. "It's amazing. It's an amazing time, and it's an amazing escape from the stresses of fighting. And vice versa, fighting is an amazing stress reliever from work.”

By Lucas Grandsire