No. 1 flyweight out of Texas Jonathan “Dragon” Martinez (9-1) will make his UFC debut later this month when he faces Andre Soukhamthath (12-6) in a 135-pound matchup at UFC Fight Night 138 in Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada. Wade Hampel of Big Fight Management confirmed with Pro MMA Now the news today that Martinez had been picked up by the organization.
Martinez has fought for such promotions as Legacy FC and Combate Americas and most recently scored a first-round submission win under the Fist Fight League banner in September 2017.
The new UFC signee gave us some background on how he got into the sport. “My parents put me in Taekwondo at the age of 15, I was a troublemaker in school,” Martinez said. “After that I wanted to do MMA so I kept telling my girl and she paid for the month and told me to get ready. I was really excited to start and after that I just became addicted to it.”
Like most up-and-coming MMA fighters do, Martinez always fantasized about fighting under the bright lights inside the octagon. “Fighting in the UFC has always been my dream,” he said. “Just watching all these fighters coming up gets me excited.”
As a professional mixed martial arts fighter who also has a family, Martinez has learned to juggle his professional and personal life. “You have to be real focused to make time for your family and kids and stay on track training,” he said.
With plenty of knockout victories as well as a couple of submission wins on his record, Martinez describes his style as “really different” and said he can “switch it up a lot of ways”.
Although fighters enter the octagon alone, there’s always plenty of people around them who have contributed to their success. Jonathan credits his family and his girl Amber for always being on his side and pushing him, as well as his coach Danny Perez who always makes sure he has the proper training and everything he needs. Jonathon also gives a shout out to his little bro Kelvin for pushing him at the gym every day and his whole team at Different Breed MMA.