David Martinez lived up to the hype with his octagon debut after laying waste to Saimon Oliveira at UFC Mexico on Saturday.
A recent Contender Series signing, Martinez was touted as one of the most ready-made UFC fighters coming off the show and he proved that with a calculated yet devastating performance. After biding his time to set up combinations throughout the opening round, Martinez finally saw an opening to unleash a brutal counter right hand that absolutely blasted Oliveira and put him on wobbly legs.
Martinez followed up with a flurry of strikes including a knee right up the middle that put Oliveira down on the canvas. Vicious ground-and-pound followed and once Oliveira’s arms went limp, the referee quickly jumped in to stop the contest at 4:38 in the opening round.
Watch the finish below.
“I had the close guard the whole time but I knew if I extended it a little bit, I could finish it off with that right hand,” Martinez said about his finish.
Prior to the knockout, Martinez used superior footwork to frustrate Oliveira, who wasn’t cutting off the cage as much as following his opponent’s lead. Oliveira attempted several spinning backfists throughout the fight with no success, but kept throwing and trying to catch Martinez off guard.
As for Martinez, he stuck to a smart, technical gameplan and never allowed Oliveira to build any kind of momentum while setting up his combinations with great accuracy and nasty power.
The final sequence saw Martinez deliver that straight right hand that cracked Oliveira on the chin and spelled the beginning of the end. Once Oliveira fell to the canvas, Martinez knew he just had to deliver a few more timely shots and the fight was over.
Now 1-0 in his UFC career, Martinez is a prospect worth watching after an impressive showing in his official debut on Saturday.
