Athletes
MarQuel Mederos | 'Welcome To My Introduction’
Matched Against One Of The Lightweight Division’s True Warriors, MarQuel Mederos Plans On Alerting The World To His Own Destructive Talents At UFC Sacramento.
MarQuel Mederos has made a great start to his UFC career. But he hasn’t truly found his groove in the Octagon. He says that’s about to change.
After earning his roster spot via Dana White’s Contender Series back in 2023, Mederos has been adjusting to life on the big stage through his first few fights. And after three wins and one draw, he feels like he’s ready for his big moment.
Saturday night will give him the chance to showcase his talents against an opponent who is renowned for hard-fought, crowd-pleasing fights. Mason Jones is riding a seven-fight win streak and has picked up post-fight bonuses in each of his last two Octagon appearances. It’s exactly the sort of opponent to drag the best out of a fighter, and Mederos is excited for the prospect of getting into the Octagon and throwing down in a matchup that leaps off the page as a potential Fight of the Night candidate.
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“I love that I got this matchup,” Mederos told UFC.com. “Reason being it's a great opportunity. I think people rate Mason highly. I think he thinks he should be fighting top 15. So, I go beat him, I get a top 15 shot myself. So, I love the opportunity to go make a statement.”
Mederos is facing an opponent who is in his second UFC stint. After his first spell didn’t work out, Jones went back to the European scene before returning to the Octagon looking like a new man, and he’s been producing big performances ever since.
That mentality, and those performances, have earned Mederos’ respect, but while he acknowledges the Welshman’s mental and physical toughness, he also sees opportunities in “The Dragon’s” game.
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“That speaks to just kind of his character and who he is,” he said. “I think he's a dog. To get away from the UFC, go on a run, and then come back and start winning speaks to his mentality. But I also feel there's a lot of holes in his game. He has had a lot of Fight of the Nights. He relies on his chin and his cardio. I think he has other parts of his game, but there's a duality. I can't tell you everything, but I can tell you that.”
Mederos admitted that making the leap from the regional scene to the world stage was a steep learning curve, but now he’s here, with four UFC bouts to his name, he’s starting to feel much more at home inside the Octagon.
MarQuel Mederos: 'I'm Not Here To Play Games' | UFC Sacramento
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MarQuel Mederos: 'I'm Not Here To Play Games' | UFC Sacramento
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“I had a gym change, which is very influential in my career,” he explained. “I also think just the maturity and the comfortability that I have in the game now. My boys always used to give me s***, and they used to be like, ‘Man, when you get there, it's different.’
“I'm like, ‘Man, fighting is fighting. I don't care if you put me in a cardboard box, you put me in the street, I'm fighting.’ And I think it was like a news flash when you get here. But I'm settled in, I'm comfortable now, which I feel will allow me to have the best performance of my career.”
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Moving from Factory X to The MMA Lab has been a big plus for Mederos, who feels like he has found the right home from which to base his fight prep and development.
“I think this is the most comfortable I’ve felt since I moved to my new gym. So that also plays a factor into things.”
The Arizona-based gym, headed by coach John Crouch, has an outstanding reputation for building fighters, and Mederos is delighted to be part of a strong room of talented martial artists, each helping sharpen each other’s skills as they look to make their way up the ladder.
“If I was to name one or two guys [who have been a huge help], it'd be a disservice,” Mederos admitted. “So I won't name one or two guys. That whole team, the camaraderie, and also when you're looking at guys that are around the room who are above yourself in their career and have done it at the highest level, the way they carry themselves and the way they handle their business – you can learn from those things, and I think it sets a precedent.
“It paves the way, right? Because if one person can do it, and there's a roadmap, you typically have a roadmap to follow. All you got to do is be consistent and persistent about it. So, I love it, man. The camaraderie that we have at the gym, and then the level of talent we have there, is ridiculous.”
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Mederos’ last outing saw him battle to a draw with Chris Padilla in a fight that caught both men by surprise, as he explained.
“Expect the unexpected,” he said. “When you watch Chris Padilla, it was just a very different fight than I expected. So, it's funny. What do they say? Everybody has a plan until you get punched in the face.I think he even told me himself he switched the plan up completely from what he was gonna do, and I think at the end of it, you just have to realize, like, yeah, it's a fight. It's not gonna be the perfect way you wrote it out in your head or [how] you dreamed it.
“But, at the end of the day, you’ve just got to go fight, and not put too much emphasis on what the other guy can do or what they might do. You’ve just got to fight.”
To bank 15 minutes of Octagon time is a valuable exercise for any UFC athlete early in their career, but Mederos said that what happened against Padilla won’t have too much impact on what happens when he steps back into the cage to face Jones this weekend.
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“I don't think it makes me any different. A fight is a fight,” he said. “I don't read too much into that. I think that's MMA math, right? And you see how that works out a lot. It doesn't really work out too good. So, I just take it for what it is. I take my lessons, and I focus more on myself and what I need to work on. I know myself. I know I'm tough. I know I'm durable. I know I can do all those things, but it's just about focusing on myself and setting a precedent of what I need to do.”
Mederos started fight week with an Instagram post that stated, “Welcome to my introduction.” When asked about the meaning behind it, he explained that he’s at the stage now that, while he feels at home in the UFC, there are people out there who have been sleeping on his abilities. On Saturday night, he plans on waking them up.
“I think people rate Mason highly, and I think with the performance that I'm gonna put on, it will be my introduction,” he said. “I feel I'm a little bit overlooked, a little bit overshadowed. So, like I said, I'm coming here to make a statement. I'm not here to play games. I'm coming here to make a statement, and I think when I do that, that would be my real introduction. I feel like I've been here, but I haven't been given the respect I feel I deserve.
“I genuinely feel, since I've been in the UFC, I haven't fought up to my talent level, so they can take whatever they want. I just want them to know, OK, when this m*********** steps in a cage, it's gonna be a problem, and that's the only thing I care for.”
And in a perfect world, what would the perfect introduction look like for MarQuel Mederos this weekend?
“Perfect world? Jorge Masvidal in nine seconds!” he laughed.
“I don't know. I don't have anything planned out in my head on how it's gonna play. I feel I want to test his durability, like most people have, and then we'll adjust as the fight goes. I'll repeat again, everybody has a plan till they get punched in the face. So, when the fight happens, we'll adjust, we'll adapt, and we'll make stuff happen.”
UFC Fight Night: Hernandez vs Rodrigues took place live from Golden 1 Center in Sacramento, California on August 22, 2026. See the final Prelim & Main Card Results, Official Scorecards and Who Won Bonuses - and relive the action on UFC FIGHT PASS!
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