Julian Marquez looks on bright side of social distancing as he readies for UFC return

Like most of us who are trying to navigate their way through the uncertain times of the coronavirus pandemic, Julian Marquez is doing his best to find silver linings.

The UFC middleweight is almost ready for his return after an injury absence of nearly two years. And the way he sees it, all the spare time that those who are now practicing social distancing find themselves with can be put to good use by honing his chops for his long-awaited octagon return.

“It sounds really crazy – it’s terrible circumstances that’s happening to everyone. But honestly, it’s probably one of the best things to happen to me,” Marquez recently told MMA Junkie. “Because I don’t have to worry about having to go to my day job, I don’t have to worry about all this other stuff. But life has been put on hold, and I literally have been training every day, still working out. Last night, I met up with Tom Lawlor and Corey Hendricks and we, all three of us, went out to the park to do jiu-jitsu. We’re still training. The only thing we’re not doing is sparring. But this is helping focus and really put the pedal to the medal on getting my body get back into fighting shape.”

Marquez’s injury was a fully torn latissimus dorsi suffered during his split decision loss to Alessio Di Chirico at the TUF 27 Finale on July 6, 2018. That kicked off a frustrating sequence in which two separate surgeries were required.

The latter surgery was done by a Chicago-based doctor who has done work with Major League Baseball players. He explained the severity of Marquez’s injury.

“He’s done this multiple times, and when he went in, he said, ‘I’ve never seen a tendon torn to this severity,’” Marquez said. “He’s done repairs over and over and over again with baseball players, because it happens with a pitcher when you overextend your arm. But he’s never seen it ripped off the bone like mine. So it was a very rare tear, and it’s taken so long to heal get back to proper, back to where it needs to be.”

While there’s no guarantee to when the UFC’s schedule will get fully up and running again, Marquez, who is officially 1-1 in the UFC but also has a win on Dana White’s Contender Series, is ready to go. And he’s willing to fight above his weight class if that gets him back in the cage sooner rather than later.

“I’m ready to rock,” said Marquez, who has all seven of his career victories by finish. “Let’s go. I’ll take a heavyweight fight – I don’t care, all right? I’ll put your name in there. Some cards fell through? I don’t care. I’ll fight anyone at any weight – 185, 205, heavyweight. I just want to get as many reps as I can in right now. I’m 29 years old. I just lost two years – pretty much two years of my fighting career. But I extended it maybe a little bit longer. … Honestly, whoever wants it, they can have it, man. Just say my name, (I’m) signing on the line.”