Don’t count out Quiet Storm too soon
MONTREAL: Canadian fighter Randa Markos doesn’t have much time to prepare for her battle at UFC 186
Randa Markos’s nickname is Quiet Storm, a moniker given to her by legendary cutman Jacob Duran when he recognized the intensity in her eyes, simmering beneath the surface, as he wrapped her hands.
Markos could just as easily go by the name “Underdog” if she were so inclined, as the 29-year-old Canadian has been forced to listen to a non-stop chorus of people telling her she’s not going to succeed and counting her out before she even steps into the cage.
As a contestant on Season 20 of The Ultimate Fighter, the Windsor, Ont., native was seeded 14th in the 16-fighter tournament to crown the inaugural UFC women’s strawweight champion, matched up with undefeated American Top Team standout and No. 3 seed Tecia Torres in the opening round of the competition.
Many tabbed Torres as one of the favourites to emerge from the competition with UFC gold around her waist, but Markos dashed those hopes right out of the gate, winning the contest by unanimous decision, the lowest seed to advance to the quarter-finals.
A second “upset” — a first-round submission win over Felice Herrig — moved Markos into the semifinals, where her run on the first all-female season of the long-running reality TV competition came to an end.
After a loss to Jessica Penne in the “bronze medal match” on the show’s finalé, Markos, who is currently ranked sixth in the women’s 115-pound weight class, is poised to return to the Octagon, stepping in on short notice to face fellow TUF 21 alum Aisling Daly on Saturday’s UFC 186 fight card in Montreal.
Despite landing four spots behind Markos in the rankings, the Irish veteran Daly has been quick to dismiss her as an opponent, something that is all too familiar to the feisty Canadian.
“When Ais started saying all that stuff, it didn’t shock me,” Markos says. “I know what kind of person she is, and for her to say that didn’t shock me. Let her underestimate me; she’s going to get a rude awakening.
“For her to think that fighting me is no big deal or that she’s just going to walk right through me is ridiculous,” continues Markos, who earned a $50,000 Fight of the Night bonus for her bout with Penne on the TUF 21 finalé.
“There’s no such thing as an easy fight. Every fighter we have in the 115-pound weight class is tough — everyone is talented and a lot of us have been around for a while, it’s just only now that we’re finally getting the opportunity to fight for a big show like the UFC. There’s no such thing as an easy fight.”
Daly was initially scheduled to fight top-ranked Claudia Gadelha as part of the UFC Krakow fight card earlier this month, but the Brazilian was forced to withdraw because of back issues, giving Markos the opportunity to get back into the cage and fight in the UFC on Canadian soil.
While she wasn’t scheduled to fight, the pharmacy technician, who was born in Baghdad and had to tell her parents she was playing volleyball when she joined the wrestling team in high school, has been in the gym non-stop since losing to Penne, making regular trips across the border to Dearborn, Mich., to train with fellow UFC fighter Daron Cruickshank and the squad at Michigan Top Team.
Markos has also started making trips to work with the Strong Style Fight Team in Cleveland, home of UFC women’s bantamweight contender Jessica Eye and heavyweight standout Stipe Miocic.
“I’m so happy that I won that bonus and I’ve been able to cut back the hours (at the pharmacy),” says a laughing Markos, who still maintains a part-time employment schedule.
“Getting this time to develop has really helped big time; I didn’t want to rush into a fight right away. I want to get better — and having a good team behind you, having these positive people behind me, helps me get to where I want to be.
“They’re not going to sugar-coat things for me — they’re not going to tell me I’m good when I’m not, they’re not going to tell me my punching is great when it’s not. They’re going to help me improve, help me get better and it’s been great.
“Having a gym like Strong Style to go to whenever I want and having Jessica there to help me — she’s been fighting for a long time, she’s got a lot of experience — is awesome.”
Stepping up on short notice is a challenge for any fighter, especially those who are ill prepared for the challenge. While everyone wants to appease the UFC brass by saying yes, sometimes discretion is the better part of valour.
But Markos has been preparing for this opportunity from the minute she touched down in Windsor after losing to Penne, so even though this fight wasn’t on her radar six weeks ago, Markos is ready to step into the Octagon and show Daly and everyone else in the division that counting her out is a serious mistake.
E. Spencer Kyte is the author of Keyboard Kimura (theprovince.com/ mmablog), the official UFC blog of The Province, and co-host of the Keyboard Kimura Podcast (subscribe on iTunes). He’s in Montreal covering UFC 186 all week, so follow his updates on Twitter at @spencerkyte and, at Keyboard Kimura, check out what he has to say about UFC flyweight champ Demetrious “Mighty Mouse” Johnson, the headliner of a depleted Canadian pay-per-view event.