Just over one week removed from his eighth professional victory, Henry Martinez has agreed to step in for against Matt Riddle at UFC 143, UFC officials announced on Monday.
Riddle was originally slated to face Jorge Lopez, but the Wanderlei Silva protégé was forced to withdraw due to injury. The fight, which takes place this Saturday, will mark Martinez’s UFC debut.
“Since the day I started training I was hoping for that call to come,” Martinez told Sherdog.com on Monday. “Obviously you know it’s not going to come right away when you start. You know there’s gonna be a lot of hard work behind it, but that’s what everybody wants. You want to be on that stage.”
Martinez (8-1) last fought on Jan. 21 in the co-main event of Greg Jackson’s MMA Series 7, where he submitted Ali Hanjani with a reverse triangle choke in the second round. It was the fourth straight win for Martinez, who will be moving up from lightweight to welterweight for this weekend’s event. The 28-year-old Martinez has also competed at featherweight, falling to Wilson Reis at Bellator 2 in his only career loss.
“Henry has a great record, and he’s put together some great wins,” said Jackson. “It’s nice to have the Jackson’s fight show be a springboard to get to the UFC.”
And for the dauntingly quick turnaround, Martinez says it suits him just fine.
“It really helps when you fight back-to-back like that. You get those nerves again if you have too much downtime between your fights,” he said.
Riddle (5-3), a cast member of “The Ultimate Fighter” Season 7, has lost his last two fights, dropping unanimous decisions to both Sean Pierson and Lance Benoist. All eight of Riddle’s fights have taken place inside the UFC’s Octagon, with his most recent victory coming against fellow “TUF” competitor DaMarques Johnson at UFC Live 2 back in 2010.
UFC 143 takes place Feb. 4 at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas, and will be headlined by an interim welterweight title fight between Nick Diaz and Carlos Condit. The card will also feature a heavyweight matchup between Fabricio Werdum and Roy Nelson, as well as a welterweight showdown between Josh Koscheck and Mike Pierce.
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