Mexico’s own David “Black Spartan” Martinez is a solid prospect out of the bantamweight division. He’s 6-1 with five finishes coming by KO/TKO. His sole loss was by split-decision in a fight he arguably won.
David first stood out to me when he was sitting at 3-0. Coming off two back-to-back first-round one-punch knockouts had him on my radar. Following that loss, he got back on the map in a big way. Martinez competed in Combate Global’s one-night eight-man bantamweight tournament. In the tournament were former UFC fighters Francisco Rivera Jr. and Nohelin Hernandez. Martinez won three fights that night including knocking out Rivera in the final.
Martinez is solely a striker/kickboxer with very little of his cage time spent on the mat grappling. But the “Black Spartan” has finished three fights in under two minutes. If he doesn’t finish the fight in that time frame, he’s finished two fights in the second round. He’s also gone the distance twice. That being said, Martinez has the endurance to go three rounds and with the same pace throughout.
The Mexican-born fighter has a bounce to his step moving all around the cage floor. He’ll actively moves side to side and engage and disengage with in and out movement. His evasive movement on his back foot is so good… He has capitalized on catching guys coming crashing forward chasing him. Not only is his power dangerous, but his timing is immaculate.
Martinez usually fights in volume. He puts together combinations from different angles and mixes in his kicks behind his punches. He will throw a lot of hard outside leg kicks to set the tone of the fight. Martinez is pretty active on the outside with his kicks throwing to the legs, body, head, throwing sidekicks. In fact, Martinez was a former standout WAKO kickboxer.
Everything is used to maintain the pace and control the distance. When Martinez lets his output just flow, everything blends so well together with both power and technique. He can get a little overzealous with wanting to engage, throwing wildly and overreach with his punches.
Martinez has basically shown little to zero holes in his game. He still hasn’t been tested in a lot of ways as he’s never been uncomfortable in the cage. His best win is a 39-year-old Francisco Rivera Jr. Martinez was the first one in ten years to knock Rivera out with the last time being in 2010 by Erik Koch.
Martinez is an exciting prospect who undoubtedly needs more eyes on his watch list.
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