MarQuel Mederos’ long journey to his UFC debut: How the Commerce City fighter went from homeless to MMA’s big show

Long before MarQuel Mederos earned his shot in the UFC, he was finding his way on the streets.

Mederos was homeless for a time in his native Texas, sneaking into movie theaters and apartment complex gyms to sleep. Once he moved to Colorado to reunite with his biological dad, it was a similar theme: He ended up homeless again, and sleeping in his car.

Along the way, he sold marijuana to get by, got into heated disagreements with his family, and ran up his street-fight tally to more than 25 brawls. But then he found MMA, and that rough-and-tumble background fueled him, eventually leading to his UFC debut this weekend.

“All that made me grow up more as a man,” Mederos said. “I was only 17, 18, 19 years old, and was still in a little boy mindset of, ‘Life just comes and goes,’ and I had no purpose. Me being put in those situations gave me purpose, because I was finally like, ‘I’ve got to do something different. Or else I’m going to just be living the same life the rest of my life.’”

Mederos takes on Landon Quiñones at 2 p.m. Saturday in the prelims of UFC Fight Night at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. The beginning of Mederos’ big-show career coincides with the Commerce City fighter’s maturation from a directionless teenager into a 27-year-old now with a young family of his own along with immense career goals.

The lightweight’s training for Saturday traces back to about seven years ago, when he signed up for the adult MMA class at Factory X in Englewood. Once there, his natural athleticism and toughness quickly separated him from the average Joes.

Brian Camozzi, a former UFC fighter who trained at Factory X and is now an officer with the Denver Police Department, took notice. And when he discovered Mederos was living out of his car, Camozzi offered him a place to stay.

That outstretched hand proved to be a turning point for Mederos.

“When I first saw him training, sometimes you can pick those (elite) guys out, and right away I knew that guy was going to make it,” Camozzi recalled. “Offering him a room at my house, it was the least I could do. I said, ‘I’ll do whatever I can to help you.’ And then from there, he was just a guy who never quit.

“In this sport, there’s a lot of guys who show up (to MMA gyms) and realize it’s a pain in the (butt), it’s hard, and they’re done. The guy never stopped, he worked hard, I never heard him complain, he trained multiple times a day and balanced that with a job. He did everything he needed to do, and it’s cool to see it finally paying off for him.”

Lately, Mederos has been working as a server at Pappadeaux Seafood Kitchen in Greenwood Village but hopes to put that gig in the rearview, especially if he’s awarded a possible $50,000 bonus from a victory on Saturday that comes in addition to the winning purse. Mederos and his fiancée, Savannah Ragan, have a one-and-a-half year-old daughter, and also welcomed their newborn son, Myles Mederos, into the world on Monday.

So life is coming at Mederos fast. Only now, in a good way.

“The most rewarding part is the man he’s become,” Factory X head coach and owner Marc Montoya said. “When he came in, he was just a young, punk kid. And I don’t mean that in a derogatory way, I mean that in the truest sense. He was truly just a kid who was green in everything.

“And the cool part is, he’s a kid who came into the room and got his (butt) kicked a lot. … He’s always been a good athlete, but in fighting, when you don’t know all the technical aspects, it’s a huge mountain to climb.”

After months of begging Montoya to put him on Factory X’s fight team, Mederos finally earned his spot one Saturday morning when he climbed into the cage with Montoya. There, the coach schooled the pupil, and in the process, the pupil earned the respect of the coach.

“I wasn’t saying no (to the fight team) because I didn’t like him or think he could do it — I wanted to see if he could put in the consistency and sacrifice for himself,” Montoya explained. “When (young fighters) start showing that, I start getting interested, and him asking over and over again is always a good sign because that means he was hungry.

“(That day) was a controlled (beatdown), where I was assessing what he’s got. I saw the things I needed to see, and I said, ‘OK, this kid is ready.’”

Mederos has been on a heater ever since, bringing an 8-1 professional record record into Saturday.

His one loss came by split decision in 2022. Of his eight wins, six were by knockout, including three first-round finishes, and the other two were by unanimous decision. Mederos’ most recent victory was dramatic, when he jump-kneed Issa Isakov in the face for a first-round knockout in a Contender Series fight last October. That upset, which came in front of UFC boss Dana White, booked Mederos’ promotion to the UFC.