Prior to his UFC days, Jonathan Martinez once fought as a flyweight; Saturday at UFC Vegas 49, he was set to face Alejandro Perez at featherweight, a fair bit north of the weight class he once called up.
That Martinez successfully made flyweight might leave some fight fans incredulous, given his struggles to make even the bantamweight limit in recent years. Whether forgoing a rough weight cut would pay off in terms of his performance was the question at hand.
Perez, meanwhile, was looking for his second straight win in the fight.
Perez started the fight by circling Martinez. He then landed a kick that tripped Martinez. High kick followed by a body kick from Martinez, who would fire high kicks frequently throughout the round. Perez threw a low kick, but Martinez checked it. Martinez landed a hard punch, and shortly after, Perez tired a flurry, but nothing came of it. Martinez threw a sixth head kick with less than two minutes left. Three more nasty kicks from Martinez. Less than 45 seconds left, and a head kick finally partially landed for Martinez, but Perez caught it. As the round ended, Perez dropped Martinez with a right hook!
What an end to RD 1! 🤯 #UFCVegas49 pic.twitter.com/P5pZghENrN
— UFC (@ufc) February 26, 2022
Martinez took the center of the octagon to start round two and started with the kicks again. Two minutes into the round and it was all Martinez with kicks; Perez was just feinting. With a little over a minute left, Perez finally landed a right hand but nothing else. Twenty seconds left, and Martinez landed a head kick. Perez started to turn the offense on at the end of the round yet again, but nothing came of it.
Perez came out swinging to start round three and landed a couple of punches. Martinez landed a left hook that stung Perez. The action slowed down a little bit with Martinez just landing kicks and jabs. Perez finally went for a takedown with just over a minute to go, but Martinez stuffed it. Perez started to turn on the offense again with ten seconds left in the fight, but ate a hook and high kick from Martinez.
Little surprise come the scorecards. Jonathan Martinez takes the unanimous decision win, improving to 3-1 in his last four fights.
Official Result: Jonathan Martinez def. Alejandro Perez by unanimous decision (29–28, 29–28, 30–27)
