With a new gym and a more focused approach, bantamweight Mana Martinez is ready for his breakout fight on Saturday at UFC Vegas 62.
Martinez (9-3-0) has moved away from his home in Houston, Texas to the Glory MMA & Fitness gym in Missouri to better prepare for the UFC. After his last event eight months ago at UFC 271, the bantamweight knew he needed to commit fully to Glory for his next bout. At UFC Vegas 62 on Saturday, he looks to put on a dominant performance and firmly announce his presence in the organization. His opponent Brandon Davis (14-9-0) has struggled since earning a UFC contract on Dana White’s Contender Series Season 1 in 2017, posting a 2-6 record in the Octagon. Davis’ stand-up style is something that Martinez is looking forward to facing.
Mana Davis is Ready to Go “Toe-to-Toe” With Brandon Davis
“I’m excited to get back in there,” he told All Access MMA earlier this month. “This is a great matchup for me, and this is going to be fun.”
“If he’s down to go toe-to-toe, you know, step up in there and scrap it out, let’s do it. I have a feeling he will be willing to do that. He’s making his second run in the UFC and in his first run he fought tough guys – Zabbit, Gigit, guys of that sort with high-level caliber striking like that – and he stood in there. Even in his second run, he’s fought guys like Randy Costa, other guys like that. You know, his last fight was a little bit of a stand-up as well.
There’s definitely ‘Fight of the Night’ written all over it, but I don’t plan on having too much of a ‘Fight of the Night’ in there. I just want to go in there and have my breakout performance like I know I’ve been on the coming of.”
Mana Martinez Will Have a Spotlight Opportunity at UFC Vegas
Martinez’s goal caught a break late in the week too at the weigh-ins on Friday when Brandon Royval failed to make weight and his main card contest against Askar Askarov was canceled. That saw the preliminary card headline fight between Misha Cirkunov and Alonzo Menifield get moved to the main card, placing Martinez vs Davis as the new preliminary card feature.
Brandon Royval fight is OFF per royval’s IG.
Royval’s opponent was not able to make weight. Royval asked for a catch weight and his opponent declined.
Rough for the @FactoryXMTMMA standout @brandonroyval
— All Access MMA (@AllAccessMMA247) October 14, 2022
If Martinez is to stand out on the UFC Vegas 62 card, the opportunity is certainly there. He entered the week as a -165 favorite, and the odds present a slight edge to a win by knockout at +215. That’s exactly the type of finish “Manaboi” is looking for.
“October 15th, there’s many ways I’ve seen an outcome and envisioned it,” he continued in the interview with AAMMA.
“Like you said, there’s possibly ‘Fight of the Night’ and I can definitely see it going deep waters, but I definitely want to make a statement and this be my breakout performance. My past two fights in the UFC have gone all 15 minutes and, prior to that, I finished everybody I fought. I want to get back in that way and getting to the finish column, so definitely getting a finish and getting my hand raised.
Come October 15th, you guys are gonna see, man, I’m excited for everybody to watch my breakout performance.”
UFC Vegas 62 Fight Card and Odds*
*Odds are subject to change
Main Card – 7 p.m. EST / 4 p.m. PST
- #5 Alexa Grasso (-195) vs #6 Viviane Araujo (+165) – Women’s Flyweight
- Cub Swanson (+175) vs Jonathan Martinez (-205) – Bantamweight
- Misha Cirkunov (+175) vs Alonzo Menifield (-205) – Light Heavyweight
- Jordan Wright (+165) vs Dusko Todorovic (-195) – Middleweight
Preliminary Card – 4p.m. EST / 1 p.m. PST
- Mana Martinez (-165) vs Brandon Davis (+140) – Bantamweight
- Nick Maximov (-140) vs Jacob Malkoun (+120) – Middleweight
- Raphael Assuncao (+275) vs Victor Henry (-330) – Bantamweight
- Piera Rodriguez (-170) vs Sam Hughes (+145) – Women’s Strawweight
- Tatsuro Taira (-230) vs CJ Vergara (+195) – Flyweight
- Mike Jackson (+490) vs Pete Rodriguez (-660) – Welterweight
Click HERE to follow our live fight-by-fight results for UFC Vegas 62.
