Marquel Martin on current state of UFC, TKO boxing, Francis Ngannou, Tyson Fury fight + more!

Verse Us with Eric Nicksick

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Marquel Martin is a former UFC employee, former CAA agent, and former agent to MMA stars like Francis Ngannou, Georges St. Pierre, Yair Rodriguez, Khalil Rountree & Kevin Lee.
He discusses the current state of UFC, why athletes get the short-end of the stick in MMA, his new business 3point0 Labs, and the journey with Francis Ngannou from UFC to Saudi Arabia and boxing Tyson Fury & Anthony Joshua!
#MMA #UFC #EricNicksick #FrancisNgannou #GSP
0:00:23 Guest introduction
0:01:11 Being on the road together during the UFC days
0:02:01 Eric sleeping with sleeping headphones
0:03:01 How’s life going for Marquel and what’s been going on
0:04:48 What is 3point0 Labs
0:06:38 Marquel growing up playing football and going to Nike Speed
camp
0:13:22 Getting hurt and losing his scholarship after getting hurt and
walking on UNLV
0:14:48 Trying to go pro in the NFL and trying out
0:16:03 Marquels final injury before retiring from NFL
0:13:40 The early days in the UFC from 2011-2016
0:20:03 Being with the UFC during the best time in companies history
0:20:52 “UFC is not a promotion its a marketing company”
0:22:05 When the UFC was sold it was doomsday
0:24:03 The way the UFC handled the buy out was the worse; UFC ran
like a mom and pop shop
0:26:36 Marquel going to CAA after getting laid off from the UFC
0:27:41 Needing to have heart surgery before insurance lapses
0:29:31 Getting the phone call from CAA while thinking about join
another agency
0:31:01 walking into CAA for the first time COLD OPEN
0:31:35 Getting the offer from CAA and moving to California
0:32:06 Starting CAA’s combat sports division
0:33:45 Marquels approach to running the combat sports division at
CAA
0:35:10 Signing Francis to CAA and being Marquels biggest client
0:37:09 Meeting Francis for the first time
0:37:44 MMA is a small pond
0:38:11 Dude wipes being a sponsor
0:38:36 People signing with CAA to get into movies and the best deals
0:39:33 Marquel's presentation to Francis to try and sign him
0:40:41 Finally signing Francis to CAA after a year of trying
0:43:21 Forming the super team behind Francis
0:44:46 Francis winning the Curtis Blaydes fight when they wanted him to
lose
0:45:26 Marquel calling Eric after the Cain Velasquez fight to being him
into his corner
0:46:46 Randy linking with Francis after UFC
0:47:56 Eric getting invited to the camp after the JDS fight
0:48:41 Eric turning down Francis the first time they talked to him
about him
0:51:19 Eric’s favorite trip was the first covid show in Jacksonville
0:52:46 Francis walking down the hallway in front of
jarzinio
0:55:14 Eric talking to Joe Mazzula about being down in the finals
0:58:04 Giving advice to Jay Harbaugh soon about football and MMA
coaching
0:59:24 Eric having a non traditional path to MMA and the culture
being different
0:02:55 Being a specialty in MMA as a coach
1:03:54 Looking forward to seeing the evolution of MMA
1:04:59 Who is the next fighter who is coming up and a specialist at
everything
1:07:51 What are some of the biggest mistakes agents make in MMA
1:11:06 Doing business right helps you sleep at night
1:11:46 BEING A MANAGER IS BEING A BABYSITTER
1:13:21 Being put into the position as a bad guy doing what your client
wants
1:16:04 Business is a sport and very competitive
1:18:06 Dana white using the same tactics they used against him
when he managed Tito
1:22:26 The BTS stories can get really nasty; wanting to do things fair
1:25:26 Marquel knew Saudi was going to be a big player in combat
sports in the beginning
1:26:57 The journey to Saudi and getting the fight wit