Las Vegas, NV – Not one to say too much on the microphone UFC bantamweight Jonathan Martinez had plenty to say following the biggest win of his career at UFC Las Vegas where he defeated #14 ranked Said Nurmagomedov on Saturday night.
“Man I’m really excited. I’m half Mexican, half Salvadorian, so I feel like I’m the first Salvadorian to be ranked,” Martinez told reporters including Cageside Press at his post-fight scrum.
“I worked real hard with my team to get here.”
Following in the footsteps of Mexican fighters such as champions Brandon Moreno and Alexa Grasso inspired Martinez to push through camp and training.
“It does help seeing all them come up and stuff, and I’m coming up too so I’m excited,” he said.
After having a very close fight with Nurmagomedov, Martinez revealed that he had trained for all aspects of his opponents game.
“We prepared for everything you know. Prepared for the clinching, the stand up, the ground. I feel like I did everything right. I feel good about my performance,” said Martinez.
There’s very few things that will choke a fighter up as much as talking about his children watching their father achieve great things in life, but specially after such a tough and close victory against a ranked opponent.
“I have three kids, three little ones, so you know they were there (in) the crowd so it was kind of like gave me a little bit,” Martinez didn’t finish the thought as he became emotional for a second.
Martinez called out former champions Dominick Cruz and Deiveson Figueirdo for a fight in the octagon following the victory which would be an even bigger step up for the UFC bantamweight.
“My last fight I called out Dominick, but I wasn’t ranked so he wasn’t even looking at me. I’m ranked now so hopefully he does. Figgy, you know, go welcome him to 135,” he said.
Regardless of who is next for Martinez it’s safe to say they will have a number next to their name as well as the bantamweight makes his weight up the rankings.
Watch the entire post-fight scrum with Jonathan Martinez above.
