Welterweights Jake Matthews and Tony Martin squared off tonight (Saturday, December 1, 2018) from inside the Adelaide Entertainment Center in Adelaide, Australia, live and free on Fox Sports 1.
Martin threw a leg kick, then ate an overhand from Matthews. Jake Matthews circled, then blitzed in with a couple overhands. Martin looked to counter his rushes with short check hooks, then pressured him to the cage and landed a straight right. Martin landed another leg kick and Matthews returned the favor. Matthews whiffed on a leg kick. Martin threw out a jab, testing the distance, and landed another low calf kick. Matthews dinged him with a nice lead hook, then they both got extremely aggressive, just winging hooks back and forth at full power! Martin went down, Matthews tried for a guillotine but ended up on the bottom. Matthews reversed, ending the round on top.
Matthews threw out a couple leg kicks to start the second, showing no immediate inclination to go back to the crazy exchanges of the first. He did lunge in with a long right overhand, then a couple more that tagged Martin. They traded kicks to the arms. Martin landed a glancing high kick on Matthews guard as Matthews circled. Martin tried to get his jab going a little bit, then landed two low calf kicks. Matthews ate a hook but snapped Martin’s head back a bit with a straight. Matthews ate another calf kick, and both men whiffed on overhands. Martin landed uppercuts in the clinch, then a straight moving out of it, but ate a knee for his troubles.
Martin landed an outside calf kick and Matthews countered with a hook into a body kick. Matthews tried to shoot in and Martin took his back, then transitioned to an arm-in choke… and Matthews went out! Martin put him to sleep! Incredible anaconda choke win by Tony Rocco Martin.
Tony Martin said he wasn’t about to fly 30 hours to lose. He said there is no better time for the UFC to create a 165-lb. division- and to build it around him. “F*** Ben Askren, sorry for my language”. He said his name from here on out is Rocco, because that’s what his mom wanted to name him but thought he would get into too many fights. As a professional fighter, it makes sense he would want that name back.
Official result: Tony Martin def. Jake Matthews via technical submission (anaconda choke) at 1:19 of Round 3
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