Jonathan Martinez gave fight fans their first finish earlier tonight (Sat., July 13, 2019) at UFC on ESPN+ 13 live on ESPN+ from inside Golden 1 Center in Sacramento, Calif., when he put a brutal stop to Team Alpha Male product Pingyuan Liu via third-round knockout (knee).
After a back-and-forth first round that produced memorable offense for both fighters, Martinez and Liu delivered a dud in the second. Neither fighter was doing much. That looked to be the case again in the third before Martinez stepped in with a perfectly-timed left knee that caught the Chinese fighter flush on the chin. Liu fell to the canvas and Martinez landed a follow-up punch as the referee stepped in.
Check out the vicious finish above courtesy of UFC/ESPN.
With this performance, “Dragon” locks down his second-straight win in the UFC’s stacked bantamweight division after nabbing a unanimous decision over Wuliji Buren back in February. This is easily the biggest finish of Martinez’s career and proof that he has the natural ability to really excel at 135 pounds. The 25-year-old fighter should land another fight before the end of 2019 and could eventually work his way into the top 15 sometime next year.
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