Fil-Am Mana Martinez absorbs decision loss in UFC 285

MANILA, Philippines – Filipino-American bantamweight Leomana “Mana” Martinez was unable to capitalize on a strong first round against South African Cameron Saaiman, succumbing to a unanimous decision loss in UFC 285 last Sunday at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas.

Martinez looked to land a lot of strikes while Saaiman was keeping the former balance with leg kicks. The latter hit Martinez twice in the groin area, resulting in a point deduction and a stern warning from referee Herb Dean. After a minute’s stoppage, the fight resumed. 

Later on, an eye poke by Saaiman caused another stoppage, but there was no point deduction. Throughout the fight, Saaiman was the aggressor while Martinez just looked to counter.

Had Martinez scored more telling strikes, he could have salvaged a draw. As a result, judges Adalaide Byrd and Chris Lee gave the match to Saaiman while Sal D’Amato called it even.

Martinez dropped to 10-4-0 while Saaiman went up to 8-0.

In the main event of the evening, the returning Jon Jones, who had not been in action for three years, submitted Frenchman Cyril Gane at the 2:04 mark of the first round with a guillotine choke. 

Jones, who hardly broke a sweat in his return to the Octagon, won his 27th fight and the vacant heavyweight championship. This is Jones’ second title in a different weight class. He won the light heavyweight title twice and was making his heavyweight debut against Gane. 

Technically, he is undefeated, save for that disqualification for illegal elbows in 2009 against Matt Hamill. Jones now has 19 consecutive wins — the most in UFC history. 

Jones is now 27-1-0 while Gane is 11-2-0 after being unable to capitalize on his previous massive win over Tai Tuivasa.