The UFC has made its return to Las Vegas after nearly a month on Fight Island in Abu Dhabi. Now, fighters are back in the 25-foot octagon with UFC Vegas 5 underway. The preliminary card is part of the history books, and fans finally got treated to their first finish of the night in the final fight.
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This was a catchweight bout between Jonathan Martinez and Frankie Saenz. The match proved to be an entertaining affair with a game-changing strike early in the third proving to be the difference between the duo on the night.
Jonathan Martinez claims massive win at UFC Vegas 5
The fight seemed to be heading for the scorecards akin to the previous three matches. Here, at the start of the 3rd round, Saenz went on the offensive. He unleashed a flurry of combinations as Martinez backpedaled.
The fighter in the black trunks saw an opening as his opponent had bent down when he leaned in for his strikes. Here, he struck Saenz clean in the jaw with a well-placed knee.
TOO MUCH! 😤@JonathanMyda's knee gets him the win from Vegas!
📺 Main card begins now on ESPN+ pic.twitter.com/wVDlOTKoSz
— UFC (@ufc) August 2, 2020
Upon impact, the 39-year-old fell onto the canvas. Martinez seemed to have learned from watching the fights over the last month and did not take the knockdown for granted.
He turned and connected with 4 vicious lefts before the referee ended proceedings. This was no freak ending as Martinez had been the better fighter in the first ten minutes as well. As a result, Martinez claimed his 7th T/KO, 9th finish, and 12th win in a relatively young 15 fight career.
Currently, Saenz is on enduring a poor run of results with just 2 wins in his last 7 trips to the Octagon since 2015. At 39, he knows time is running out and will want to get a win before winding down his career.
Meanwhile, Martinez will not mind losing out a part of his fight purse due to coming in overweight as he claimed his first win in 2020. Earlier in the year, he lost to Andre Ewell via split decision at UFC 247.
What did you make of Jonathan Martinez’s incredible fight-ending knee?
Sources: UFC-Twitter, Jonathan Martinez- Fight History, Frankie Saenz-Fight History
