Jonathan Martinez picked up the biggest win of his career on Saturday after unleashing a series of vicious leg kicks to finish Cub Swanson in the UFC Vegas 62 co-main event.
Martinez kicked Swanson in the legs, head, and body from the beginning of the fight. Martinez was able to get Swanson into a trance after a few leg kicks that had him grinning while changing stances.
With Swanson trying to keep his balance, Martinez fired another punch that nearly took out Swanson’s legs. He was sent crashing to the ground. Martinez continued with more punches, with Swanson covering until the referee ended the fight.
The official end time came at 4:19 in the second round.
Afterwards, Martinez turned his attention to another UFC legend sitting cage side doing commentary for the broadcast.
“I’m real emotional right now,” Martinez said. It’s a hard work effort that has paid off. Every day I try to improve.
“I know Dominick Cruz is in here, hopefully he will give me that chance.”
Prior his call-out, Martinez had to first get past Swanson. He executed his game plan by executing a series of brutal body kicks which set up his rest of the strikes on his feet. Martinez’s speed and precision allowed Swanson to continue moving forward, but Swanson was careful with his defense.
Just when it looked like Swanson was getting into a rhythm, Martinez caught him coming forward with a huge knee up the middle that dropped the UFC and WEC veteran to the canvas. Martinez launched a series of shots, then he landed another vicious knee to Swanson’s body.
With time running out Swanson made it to the finish but Martinez was determined to find a way to win.
Martinez moved forward at the beginning of round two and began launching inside elbows. Swanson was unable to resist the temptation to stop Martinez.
That’s when Martinez began throwing kicks once more, but this time saw an opportunity to strike Swanson’s legs. The first couple of kicks landed and Swanson was already in trouble, which told Martinez everything he needed to know.
Martinez then uncorked another kick that connected just on the inside of Swanson’s knee and that’s when he crumbled to the mat. The final couple of punches were just an exclamation point on a very strong performance overall by Martinez.
It remains to be seen if he’ll get his chosen opponent after calling for the fight with Cruz but Martinez should be in line for another marquee matchup after beating Swanson in his bantamweight debut.
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