UFC Fight Night 142: Dos Santos vs. Tuivasa - Predictions and Picks

#4 Jake Matthews vs. Anthony Rocco Martin

One of the UFC's youngest talents, Jake Matthews is back in action this weekend

If I’m honest, I saw this fight advertised on the Fight Night 141 broadcast and was baffled as I’d never heard of Anthony Rocco Martin, and figured he was an Aussie newcomer taking the fight on short notice. That isn’t the case, though – he is in fact the 10-fight UFC veteran Tony Martin now going by his full name. Weird to see a name change like that in MMA but it’s certainly a more memorable moniker.

Martin has flown under the radar with UFC fans for years, but he’s built a sneakily good record since his 2014 debut, going 6-4 in the Octagon with 3 finishes to his name. Initially a hulking grappler at 155lbs, Martin had issues making the Lightweight limit and this caused a penchant for gassing out – an issue which led directly to a couple of his losses.

2018 has seen him move to 170lbs though and the results have been dramatic. Martin comfortably defeated veteran Keita Nakamura in April and then starched Ryan LaFlare with a stunning striking display in October – LaFlare was put away with a vicious right head kick and some follow-up punches. The fight was seriously impressive and suggested that at 28, Martin might be ready to make a run for the top.

Matthews has seen a similar trajectory inside the UFC. He initially came from the TUF: Nations series in 2014, and while he didn’t see success there, he showed enough potential to be brought into the UFC and then showed rapid improvements, rising up the 155lbs ladder at just 20 years old. A pair of bad losses in 2016 slowed his climb, however, and he took some time off before packing muscle on to return as a sizeable Welterweight.

Since then, Matthews has looked excellent. He hasn’t lost at his new weight and picked up a very impressive victory over the tough Li Jingliang in February. A June win over the overmatched Shinso Anzai didn’t tell us a lot, though, and Martin will arguably represent his toughest test to date.

This is a tricky fight to call, to be frank. Matthews is perhaps the bigger, stronger athlete and he has used his powerful takedowns to outwork opponents like Jingliang and the huge Bojan Velickovic before, but Martin made his name as a stifling grappler and I’d be inclined to give him the striking advantage, given Matthews has looked somewhat stiff on his feet before while Martin was able to knock out LaFlare.

If the fight goes the distance than a rabid crowd in favour of Matthews may well help to sway the judges, but personally I’m betting on Martin finishing things before they get that far. Rocco could be a man to watch in 2019.

The Pick: Anthony Rocco Martin via second round TKO