Jonathan “Dragon” Martinez has been silently creeping up the Bantamweight division rankings while others like Sean O’Malley, Chito Vera and Song Yadong have been gettinng all the headlines, and with good reason.
But with Martinez’s four fight win streak, including his recent win over veteran Cub Swanson, he showed why he is a top contender in the division.
Having been fighting in the promotion since 2018, Martinez is well vetted on the roster, but still not a vet in his tenure in comparison to his opponent Cub, who has been in the promotion since 2011.
Three losses have come for Martinez in his UFC career, in his debut, then after he went on a two fight win streak that came to an end by Andre Ewell. Another two fight win streak that came to a stop from Davey Grant by KO. As of now he is on a tear boasting a record of 17-4.
The Co-Main event of UFC Fight Night Grasso vs. Araujo was held by Jonathan Martinez and Cub Swanson. Where Swanson, a UFC veteran, was making his debut in the Bantamweight division.
Round 1 started fast with both meeting in the middle wasting no time to exchange some leather with the classic showdown of south paw (Martinez) vs. orthodox (Swanson).
The round being high-pace with striking exchanges back and forth between the two, Martinez was just faster beating Swanson to the punch.
The last 0:19 of round 1, Martinez caught Swanson coming in with a knee to the head and dropped him, Cub, who got back to his feet received another knee to the stomach which put him down and Martinez, teeing off with strikes until the bell. Martinez who was visibly angry staring at Herb Dean (referee) when he got up seemingly, as why didn’t he stop the fight?
Round 2 is when Martinez let that left round kick fly to the head and the legs of Swanson, just missing him on numerous up top, he was able to capitalize with the inside and outside leg kicks.
Martinez dropped Swanson at 1:30 of the second round with an inside leg kick and Cub not being able to move properly, he strategically placed out his shots, mixing it up, not before delivering another leg kick with 0:45 seconds of the round to go and buckled him. Finihing it up with ground strikes before Herb Dean waived it off.
