Jonathan Martinez has won five of his last six UFC appearances, but even he has to admit that the latest victory was a little more special.
The Factory X member spoiled Cub Swanson’s bantamweight debut in the UFC Fight Night 212 co-main event, winning via technical knockout 4:19 into the second round at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas on Saturday night.
“All this week I wasn’t thinking about who I was fighting,” Martinez said at the post-fight press conference. “After I got the win, I was like, ‘I just beat Cub Swanson,’ so I’m really excited.”
Swanson is the biggest name on Martinez’s resume to date, and the 28-year-old Plainview, Texas, native admitted to feeling a little bit overlooked by his opponent heading into the fight. The reason for that sentiment was Swanson’s bizarre media day, where he had a teammate answer questions for him while he sat in silence.
“It felt kind of disrespectful when he was interviewing, he didn’t say anything,” Martinez said. “I had that [feeling] all week, he’s looking at me like I’m nobody. I had to go in there and make a statement.”
Martinez certainly did make a statement. He nearly finished Swanson in Round 1 with knees and punches, and he also hurt the WEC veteran with a series of elbows early in the second period. Martinez put his veteran adversary away with leg kicks shortly thereafter, the last of which sent Swanson tumbling to the canvas in agony. Now, Martinez believes he can get the recognition he deserves.
“I feel like I’m in the shadow,” he said. “I see everybody they’re mentioning their name and nobody’s mentioning my name. Hopefully now because I beat Cub they’re going to see something different and take me serious.”
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