On the preliminary card of UFC Sacramento, Liu Pingyuan made his US debut when he faced Jonathan Martinez.

Pingyuan (15-4) was undefeated in the UFC with back-to-back wins over Damian Stasiak and Martin Day. The 26-year old was on a ten-fight win streak and hadn’t lost since 2013. The Chinese native trains out of Team Alpha Male – and was fighting in front of a home crowd in Sacramento, California.

Martinez (10-2) most recently defeated Wuliji Buren via unanimous decision at UFC 234. The 25-year old earned his first UFC win, after suffering a short-notice debut loss to Andre Soukhamthath last October (we spoke to Martinez prior to that performance – check it out here). Martinez trains out of Factory X in Denver, Colorado under head coach Mark Montoya.

Round 1

Martinez landed the first strike of the bout, with a fast leg kick. A feeling out process early between both men, as Pingyuan fires his first combination a minute into the bout. Both men exchanged kicks throughout the first two minutes. Pingyuan landed a straight right hand that partially landed. Martinez backed Pingyuan up, but ate kicks coming forward from the outside fighter in Pingyuan.

Both men were firing just one shot at a time throughout the first three-and-a-half minutes. Pingyuan landed a big right hand and swarmed Martinez up close. Both men started trading, as Martinez landed a flying knee up against the fence. Martinez threw another flying knee that lands, followed by a head kick. Martinez landed a strong combination to end the round. Back-and-forth round between both men.

Cageside Press scored the round 10-9 Pingyuan. 

Round 2

Martinez started the round as the aggressor. Pingyuan lunged forward with a left hand that missed. Both men were waiting for each other to strike first so they could counter. As pointed out by Michael Bisping on the broadcast, Martinez was following Pingyuan and not cutting him off. Neither man haven’t landed anything significant in round two so far. However, Pingyuan was slightly more active as Martinez was waiting too much. Martinez fired a high kick but Pingyuan blocked it. He then fired a kick once again to end the round.

Cageside Press scored the round 10-9 Martinez. 

Round 3

Both men throwing early to kick off the third round. Pingyuan landed a combination as he stood his ground more in the beginning of the round. Pingyuan fired a head kick that partially landed. Both men landed up close. No takedowns so far in the fight, as both men are content to exchange on the feet. Martinez continued to pressure Pingyuan late in the third round but Pingyuan is more active. Martinez then landed a clean knee up the middle that knocked Pingyuan out cold. Picture perfect placement at UFC Sacramento.

Result: Jonathan Martinez def. Liu Pingyuan via KO (Knee) in Round 3 (3:54)

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China’s own Pingyuan Liu is set to make his third trip to the octagon in the UFC. Liu has been tapped to face off against Jonathan Martinez in a bantamweight bout on July 13 in Sacramento. The UFC Sacramento card is to take place at the Golden1 Center on ESPN+.

Pingyuan Liu has been on an absolute tear lately. He is coming into UFC Sacramento with a 10 fight win streak, two of them being in the UFC. After starting his career off 5-4, the ten straight has Liu riding some serious momentum in the bantamweight division. He will look to continue that coming into the fight. Liu has already beat Martin Day and Damian Stasiak and looks to add Martinez to that list. Originally, Liu was slated to face Ray Borg in March at UFC Philadelphia before Liu pulled out due to an injury.

Jonathan Martinez is also coming into UFC Sacramento off of a win. After losing his UFC debut to Andre Soukhamthath, Martinez rallied back to beat Wuliji Buren at UFC 234. Now that he’s back in the win column, Martinez wants to use Liu as a step up in competition to get closer to gold in the crowded and stacked UFC bantamweight division.

Building UFC Sacramento

UFC Sacramento has had a slew of fights announced recently. The most notable fight on the card is the return of Urijah Faber. Faber is set to take on Ricky Simon in the co-main slot on the card. A main event has not yet been decided. Other notable fights on the card include Cynthia Calvillo versus Livia Renata Souza, Sara McMann versus Nicco Montano, Josh Emmett versus Mirsad Bektic and Darren “The Damage” Elkins versus Ryan Hall. Stay tuned to find out who will feature in the UFC Sacramento main event the moment it is announced!

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The addition to UFC Philadelphia was first reported by The Philly Voice. 

It’s Ray Borg’s first fight back since being on the receiving end of the highlight reel finish from Demetrious Johnson in October of 2017. It’s not for a lack of trying. Due to the Conor McGregor bus incident at UFC 223, Borg’s bout with Brandon Moreno fell apart. That fight was rescheduled twice, but Borg had to pull out for a host of medical reasons, most notably from remains of glass in his eye from the bus attack. 

Then, after a scheduled fight with Joseph Benavidez, which Borg was forced to pull out, his newborn son came down with hydrocephalus, a dangerous birth condition, and had to fight with family through that tough time. After crowd sourcing and raising more than $37,000, his son looks to be doing much better. It’s also worth noting that this will be Borg’s first official contest in the bantamweight division after missing weight twice at flyweight.

Pingyuan Liu is riding a hot win streak coming into this fight. He has won his last 10 fights and is 2-0 in the UFC. His last outing was against Martin Day, which Day took on short notice. The fight was one of the better ones on the night going to a razor-thin split decision. Borg will be a step up for Liu, who has major aspirations in the bantamweight division. 

UFC Philadelphia is headlined by the return of Justin Gaethje and Edson Barboza. Gaethje is coming off a first-round knockout of James Vick. Barboza, on the other hand, is coming off a dominant victory over Dan Hooker at UFC Milwaukee. Also on the card is a women’s strawweight bout between Michelle Waterson and Karolina Kowalkiewicz.  

Make sure to stay tuned to Cageside Press to keep up to date on all the latest news for UFC Philadelphia. 

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