Jonathan Martinez has been fighting for over a decade in the sport of mixed martial arts. Now aged 30, he is set to fight the biggest bout of his MMA career.
UFC No.13 ranked bantamweight Martinez will face the biggest challenge of his MMA career at UFC 301. In the event, the fighter from Plainsville, Texas will fight featherweight legend and now bantamweight contender Jose Aldo in the latter’s comeback fight The bout between Martinez and Aldo will be the co-main event of UFC 301.
A 19-year-old Martinez captured the XFL flyweight title by defeating Micah Stockton at Rage on the River 3. He then annexed the promotion’s bantamweight title two fights later, defeating Xavier Siller by TKO on 5 November 2014, as a 20-year-old fighter.
After posting s 9-1 record in the regional MMA circuit, Martinez made his UFC debut against Andre Soukhamthath at UFC Fight Night 138 at the age of 24. Two years later, At 26-Martinez came in 4.5 pounds over the bantamweight limit and was fined 30% of his total fight purse. The fight continued at a catchweight of 140.5 pounds.
Martinez has successfully moved back and forth between the bantamweight and featherweight. But his last four bouts have exclusively been fought at bantamweight with two of those fights earning him a Performance of the Night bonuses worth $50,000 (~$76,045 AUD) each. Martinez was 29 years and 5 months old when he recorded a TKO win over Adrian Yane at UFC Fight Night 230.
Martinez has come a long way since starting to train in Taekwondo at the age of 14. It was Taekdowndo that eventually led him to train in mixed martial arts. With the opportunity to earn and provide for his family, Martinez was motivated to make it despite losing his first amateur mixed martial arts bout.
“I have a full-time job and a family I have to support. My dream is to make something of myself to show my kids that they can do anything they set their mind to and I have many people here with me to push and challenge me to do better and keep going. I’m gonna keep going til I get where I’m going.” said Martinez.
Where he is going is straight to the top. Whether it will lead to a UFC world title, remains to be seen. For now, however, the 30-year-old will have to focus on becoming a legend killer as he faces Aldo.