San Antonio, TX — Raul Rosas Jr. dropping out of Noche UFC was just what the doctor ordered for bantamweight David Martinez.
Martinez (13-1) was the beneficiary of an otherwise unfortunate circumstance, being bumped up the card to take on Rob Font in the co-headliner (the Mexican fighter was originally booked to face Carlos Vera, and later Quang Le, earlier in the night).
Coming away with a unanimous decision win, Martinez, who happens to be an orthopedic surgeon, noted that the change to a higher-profile, more experienced opponent wasn’t the obstacle you might think.
“I’ve been preparing for the best fighters in the division, so I was prepared to fight anyone,” he told media outlets including Cageside Press following the bout. “That’s it.”
There were no surprises as a result, he added. “No, not at all. Rob Font is a solid fighter. I knew it was going to be a tough fight, and that’s exactly what it was— a tough fight.”
Martinez is still early in his UFC career, and has just hit his prime at 27 years of age. Still, he has quite the fallback career if he needs it, being the rare doctor to fight in the UFC (Rosi Sexton, who holds a PhD and works as an osteopath, competed twice for the company in 2013, but is not a medical doctor).
Asked if he’d consider work as a cageside physician after his fighting career wraps, Martinez loved the idea. “I think that would be incredible. Being able to do the two things that I love the most, fighting and medicine. I think it would be great, wonderful.”
Now coming off his biggest win yet, Martinez didn’t have any names he wanted to call out on Saturday. “I’m going to talk to my team, my coaches, and we’ll see what’s next. We’ll continue to prepare, and we’ll see what comes,” he said.
As to the scorecards, while leaving it to the judges is always a gamble, Martinez was pretty confident he’d won the bout.
“At the very end, during the last exchange, I knew that I had it. The last, last, last, last exchange, I knew that one had been mine. So that’s why I knew that I had it. I thought that I had it, that’s why I got all excited, I started to pump my fists.”
Watch the full Noche UFC post-fight press conference with David Martinez above.
