Alex Martinez – The Canadian mixed martial artist competes in the lightweight division for iKon Fighting Federation. In fact, he is undefeated as a professional holding a 6-0 record which includes five finishes.
Transcript
Alex Martinez: Alex Martinez boomwe’re back episode, 121 of the quarantinecast, it’s crazyhow many episodes, i’ve done already ican’t, believe it buti’m really really excited for this. One iam joined by a uma fighter, who’s actually joining me. Frommexico he’s got a big fight. This weekendalex martinez, i’m really really excitingfor. Uh really excited for this oneobviously anytime, someone fighting, outof, canada or representing canadais fighting, i’m always behind themdoesn’t matter. If they’re in the ufc oron the regional scene, it doesn’t matterto mei’m really excited for this one umwithout further ado: i’m going to bringthem onhey man. How are you doing hey? What’S upman, how are you doing uh down there inmexicoi’m doing? Well, you know like right, nowis, uh, probably like what everybodyconsiders tough as part of fightingwhich is you know, cutting weight soum. You know i’m keeping my weight downstay on the diet so, but i meanit’s, like my wife, keeps asking me: rightshe came down with me. She says you knoware, you glad you’re here because sheknows that it’s a tougher and i’m likeyou know whati prefer being in this nice andbeautiful weather than like beingcutting weight in the cold winter. Incanada soyou know i’m doing just well yeah. I canimagineit’s a lot easier down there. Especiallyfor, like cardio umaround, this time too right like ifyou’re out running in the snowyeah yeah yeah. Well, you know like likeeverywhere in canada. You know it’s uhsomething that we have to fight. Againstwhich makes us even betterlike stronger fighters in a way ibelieve. The call is somethinguh. We already wake up fighting yeahso, it’s funny. What’S the um, what’s thecovertrestrictions there, i know icon, i’m surehas some things in place, but what’s itlike in mexico are theyyou know i’m sure the the theorganization is telling you not to comeinto contact with too many people. Whatsorts ofprotocols. Do they have well umit’s? It’S funny? Actually, you know herethethe copy restrictions. It’S morei think in lower countries like umpeople are more poor people actuallyfollow it better in a way they’re morescared of the coffee. In a way you knowit’s kind of silly butum i mean i can go outside without amask and i’ll be fine. You know butyou see like the mexican mexicanresidents, they wear masks all the timeand. They make sure they keep thedistance, which is kind of funny. I thinkthey’re more scaredyou know down up in the in the up. Northi think we’re a little more skeptical. Inthat sense. You know we kind of likewe just want to wear the mask when wewant to wear it, not when somebody’stelling uswe’re. Here you know they kind of listenthe restrictions a little more and theyfollow the rules, a little moreum, but still you know it’s also mexicoso. There is a lot of loose ends. You knowthey kind of don’t really forceit down upon you. You won’t get finedthat’s for sure. You know if you go intoplaces and you don’t want to wear yourmask and you kind of likegive a fist. Then you know people justlet, you be umbut. Also, the same time i don’t know mydad my coach, my dad’s, which is my dadgot tall, he’s like hey yo, put your maskon by the older lady, which was kind offunny, but uhi mean it’s it’s well. You know, likeeverything is openi, want to ask about that. What’S itwhat’s it like having your familykind of getting behind you a lot ofpeople leave their family at home, whenthey go to fights! What’S it like havingboth, your dad and your wife travel withyou, and not just with you buthave them as almost a part of your teamespecially. With your dad asyour coach, well, it’s a big blessingright. I meanuh it’s! I don’t know how to say like ilove having them every single way of thestepuh they’re there when i’m training wheni’m going through my camp and thenhaving the laws sowhy not for them. Being. I understand youknow like there’s a worsewar mindset of uh. You know live yourfamily where we’re going to work but atthe same time. You know they’reright there getting ready for work withme. So, in the end of the day, it feelsit feels good to complete. You know thethings with my family plusthey know they. I also kind of like uhyou, say, educated themwell, in a way when it comes down to thethings that i need to be able to keep mymindin sharpness and, for example, my wifeunderstands thatshe needs to give me my space. Whenever ineed it so she’s, not like very clingymoments that i, for example, they makespace to focusmeditate or just enter in the war, orlike modeum there’s a lot of things that we hadto overcome together throughout theyears. But you knowum it’s. You know i love it. You know it’si wouldn’t want it any different, andthen. Of course my dad is my coachuh. He well he’s a worker himself sowhen, he comes with me. It’S like we bothgo to work together in a way right, whenhe when he fights it’s the same wayaround because he also fights so i gowith himand, it’s the same mindset. It’S just hejust feels like my teammate and my coachandmy dad. At the same time, it’s amazing andthen. I have my coach: be hospital whichis awesomeyeah. What’S it like uh having thatdynamic obviouslyum, you see it with guys like umwonderboy thompson. His dad is his maincoach, but a lot of the times it doesn’twork out. But then you see it work. How doyou? How do you balance that i mean areyou at family dinner, sometimes and yourdad’s? Looking at youlike, i just want an extra bite. Likedon’T judge meyeah, no, not really like uh. I thinkwhen you go. You talk about about like uhdieting in that sensewell, you like it’s almost like yourdad’s coaching, you all the time likeyeah like there’s times where you’relike okay, you can just stop being mycoach and just be my dad for a nightlike. How is that balanceman? You know. I’Ll be honest to you, igrew up being in thattype of fathership, so, for example, youknow. I only know him one way you knowfor me. I only know himas a father, slash, coach and um. I thinkhe does very good to be able to likeput the fathership and and coaching alltogetherso. I only know him as a father, the waythat. He is a coach almost in a way so idon’t know ifthat’s, very understood, but what i meanby it is. This is what i know and that’sit you know, there’s no differentpartnership for meand. It works out very well. We have avery strong relationship together, youknow yeah, when we go outum he’s always coaching me. You know andi justhave, to accept that you know it’s a goodthing. You know and i enjoy, and i love itand also like made me very humblethroughout life too, because you know ialways have to listenum. I don’t know how to say it like it’sverynatural. For me, i don’t see any other wayso when people ask me thatit’s kind of like i grew up like this awhole, my whole life sothat’s. All i see and that’s all i knowright um. I don’t know any otherrelationship between a father and a sonthe way that i havei mean i’ve seen it from other peoplebut. The ones that i enjoy is the onethat, i’m goingthrough. So it’s it’s good to see that alot of the times it’s it’s hard. I meanyou saw it with khabib nurmagomedov toowhereyou know his dad was his main coach hisdad’s, the one that got him into fightinghis, dad his dad died. He didn’t even wantto, be part of fighting anymore, how isthe relationshipboth with your dad and your other coachlike. I find that. Would be umyou know it’s it’s kind of hard i meanyour dad’s, probably watching and beinglike. I know him better than you dowhy. Are you giving him different advicehow? Do you find that that balance ofhaving two different coachesyou, know um? In that sense, like i sayit’s been a lot of work done between allof usuh. So, like you know a good relationshipfor example, i have a relationship, withmy wife here. That’S why i bring herum i heard of fighters. You know havingissues with their other ones, so theynever take them same thing comes down, toyou, know, coaches. I think we did a verygood job, educating all of ourselvestogether and you know working hard to beable to like get along, of course, youknow we’re human. So sometimes i don’tget, along with my dad, i don’t get alongwith my coachessame thing. My coaches don’t get alongwith each other, but you know somethingthat we have is that we’re very humblevery strong, martial artists that weactually work through those problems. Andwe just talk it out and i have issueslike yo man. You know, i don’t feel thisis right. You know so we’re alwaystalkingand um. It’S i don’t know there is verygood communication, our teamuh. Probably that’s why things are goingvery well for us, umbut um. My dad gives a space to whoeverwants the best for meand. Of course, when somebody doesn’t wantthe best for me something we always dois, we listenand, then we kind of just decide: forourselves, okay, man, this guy for suredoesn’t, want the best forfor ourselves. So we should probably kindof keep some space in between and i meanand, if i’m also like very smart in thatsense. You know, if i feel thatsomething is all right: they’re not i’mjust, gon na listen to it, tilltell us, okay, probably ten, to step awayfrom this umso. How do you say i don’t know, i thinkwe work very good as a teammy coaches work very well. As a team likei said my dad givesthe other coaches, because i have twoother coaches one is my wrestling. Coachwhich is my, which is back home and theother. One is my mma: coachwhich is bill, maher, very well known andmy dad gives in their space you knowwhenever they’re teaching me my thatgives them their spaceit’s. It’S a good balance to have and itreally is good to see. Not a lot. Ofpeople can pull it offbut when it does work successfully. Youcan really see itguys, like wonder boy guys, like khabib itreally, makes a makes a huge differencei want to talk a bit about your fightbecause. It is three days away, so wecan’t not talk about itwhat’s. Your thoughts on the matchup imean he’s very dangerous he’s seven andtwo he’s very skilled yeah you’re nottaking aa, light fight, um you’re, taking a toughopponent sowhat’s. Your thoughts on the matchup wellmy thoughts on the matchup was alwayskind of like the same then always it’slike a good chance. I was gon na fightsomebody, even tougherso, like you know, to have this opponentof course. It’S a tough fight, i’m notlooking at him lightly, but in my headit’s like you know why we were planningto fight somebody even with a higherskill set. So you know what this is aperfect fight for usum. I think i think he’s very tough youknow, like you say, he’s very skillfulhe. He has good experience. Andi don’t know like. I just believe inmyself that i that i have what it takesto be able to overcome and becomevictorious right, soi, don’t know how to explain it. Butthere’S just a feeling inside of youwhen, you see a fight when you see ithappen you’re, like you know what we gotthisand um and even if you don’t have it youbetter make sure you like fake it tillthe end soyeah. I’M excited i’m very excited it’sgoing to be a good fight. I’M veryexcitedwhat’s your thoughts on fighting foricon. I mean you’ve fought for braveyou’ve fought abroad before um, it’s anew organization, new country, what’s yourwhole, what’s your uh, what’s yourthoughts on it, so farwell i mean so far. I really haven’t gotthe experience with them besides justbeing here in this placeum, but i really haven’t met thepromoters, yet ireally haven’t met the staff, yet uh, soit’s kind of tough. For me to use toi mean it’s, it’s they’re, giving me afight, so i’m very thankful for thatespecially. In terms of right now, wherefights, you know it’s kind of hard to getthen um. It’S all the way down in mexicowhich is nice. I love traveling. I used tofight for brave, like i say, and that’swhat you used to love about brave usethe way. They treat youyou. Go all the way around the world youcan check the new places and i love thisso muchand. I mean this is uh. This is for surenot uhin that level yet, but you know it’sit’s very good, i’m enjoying it so fari’m. Looking forward to see what uh whaticon has to offerthere are a lot of eyes on icon, rightnow and and one of the reasons inparticular isit’s, the only event it really is one ofthe only events, yeahand bellamir is also, although she’s 17a lot of eyes are on her She’S competingas well umdo. You feel like having those extra eyeson. You is a blessing, obviously if youlose it’snot great, but but it’s also possibly youknow a next step to a ufc or a bellatoris that the ultimate goal thereum, you know honestly, you know ufc is theultimate goal. Bellator, i’m not veryinterested in bellator unlessuh, it’s just a stepping stone to behonest. In all honesty, that’s mymy uh, that’s that’s kind of like youknowthe ufc is kind of like where i’m aimingfor. The reason. Why is that isbecause? You know the best fighters inthe world are in dfc and i want to testmyself, and i want to you know, go to thehighest level of the sport and see howfar. I can go with itand um. You know it’s always better whenthere’s more eyes, because the more eyesare betterso if icon, is bringing those eyes andman. You know i’m thankful for itso the more i say better. In the end ofthe day i have to i’m there by myselfanyways. You know i’m there with with godmyself and, of course, my team on the sidebut, i’m the one fightingand. You know whether there’s one personor 10 persons, i’m going to fight thesame right where there’s a thousandperson, a million person, i’m going tofight the same soi’m excited for it. One of the thingsabout canadian mma not justnow during the time endemic wheneverything shut down in canada, buta lot of fighters have to go abroad. Soeven, though you’re competing abroadyou do have an entire nation. Behind youwhether you compete here or for bravewhat. Is one thing that you you wishcould change about: canadian mma i meanobviouslyit just feels like there’s not enoughgoing on inside the countryas someone who’s training, primarily outof canada, whatwhat’s your thoughts on that and how canhow can canada kind of overcome thathumpyeah um? Well, one of the main things thatyou say you know i would love to seemoremore shows going on, like you know, showstepping up a little more and actuallyit’s it’s you know. It’S easier said thandone, though, because especiallythe way that canada runs, you know thecountry is a little more. It’S not likeit’s, not like the us or mexico or youcan. They can just get things done. Youknow, there’s a lot ofregulations. We have to follow and a lotof steps you have to takebut. At the same time, i would just loveto see more support down into theuh. I would say the promotions to behonest, because that’s what it reallycomes down to it’s a lot of money to putuh promotion and to get fights going onsoi would love to see more fights. You knowaround, canada, especially like i say, youknowtimes of coffee. There hasn’t been ithink onehigh-end professional fighter going on ithink quebec is the only one but it’sall amateur right like down in quebecyeah montreal fight. Again, i think that’sabout. It then, after that i don’t thinkthere is has been onecanadian finally put in, shows so youknow. I would like to seea promotion putting some fights on youknow, especially in these pandemic timesit. Will it kind of showsuh the countries are really interestedin the fighting world when it comes downto, these pandemic things and they put inshowsso yeah. I mean canada is a big countryit’s. So big yeah, they really are. I knowfla uhjust, like i know the owner of fla he’strying his best, but with regulations andstuff, it’s very difficultand like i think it is uh. I think, for alot of canadian fighters like yourselfguys, who are trying to come up. It’S hardyou have to go abroad and hopefully theycan kind ofyou know get something together: becausewe need it because there’s a lot ofgood talent out there, tj laramieyourselftom, o’connor uh, anthony romero, the listgoes on and on, but without organizationsin canadait’s, really hard yeah. I know that’s thething. You know i meanand. There is a lot of people that arealso, if you don’t keep them, if you don’tkeep canadian fighters active you knowthat, the window of the canadian fighterswill be gone. You know i mean if peopleif fighters are not fighting right nowthen here in five years you probablywon’t have as manynames popping up as fast just because ofthe the pandemic going on right. I meani’m sure a lot of fighters already quitfighting because of this pandemicbecause, it’s hard. It’S almost impossibletoto follow a career like that and it’skind of hard to keep the canadianfighters motivated. I had so it would beyou know it would be nice to to to givethem something you know used to be ableto. Keep on pushing forward to keep theum the roster growing right, so i meanmma is becoming very hot. All over theworldand um all over the world is puttingcars right now and canada is one ofthose thatshould step up a little more. I think butit’s very toughyeah yeah. It is. I want to talk about thepandemic you took you haven’t we haven’tseen you in 14 months, which is a longtime, obviously covet hada lot to do with that um. How have youdeveloped in that timeobviously? You can’t go out there and puton put on fights butyou’re. You have to get better in the gymso. What sorts of things have you beendoing, umthroughout lockdowns and all this stuffall, the confusion, gyms up and runningsometimes they’re nothow have you benefited and how have youuh you kind of turned it around and madeit a positiveyeah? Well, i think the i alwayseven throw all this lockdown i’ve beenready to fight. You know, like we’ve beenactually ready to fightsince. Well, i was actually supposed tofight in inwas in march, yeah martini in brazil, so iwas getting ready all the way. Tilland then, two weeks before you know, thei mean a week before i think it was theycanceled the car and then you knowthe whole ever everywhere went into alockdown. Then, after that i was, i wantedto be one of the first few fightersfrom canada to actually get out. Thereand start fighting soi’ve been, you know, we kind of found afew holes here and thereum and i always stay in shape. I was inship all the way through the pandemicuh. There was always things like i didand umi’ve been planning to fight since julyso i’ve been in the fighting mindsetsince july already, so i’ve been gettingready for a fight since julyand. You know, since then things just havebeen falling through you know. Soi was supposed to fight july. You knowwhat happened. I was a pacifierum september again and that did nothappen. Then i was supposed to fightoctoberand, then november and then now finallythis one came through and uhis actually happening, but you know it’salmost, like mymy camp, just kept getting pushed everysingle timeso, while going through it sucked but youknow. Now, looking backit really did not feel that i hadnothing coming out, because i was alwayslooking forward to another fightso. I improved a lot everywhere. I meanyou know the cool thing about thepandemic, give me more time to justtake one step back and analyze things alittle more. Instead of just you knowwhen you’re in a training camp, you’rekind of rushing a little more, you can uhbecause you’re trying to put your shapeup right. It’S for the fight, butwhen you’re out of training, camp andwhen you’re live with a little more of acore mindset. You actually can takethings more technical, so your techniqueimproves a lot fasterand. That’S what i find really improvedmyself. I found my technique. Reallyimprovedi got. I got a chance to go down tomontreal for a bit. I got a chance to godown withwell. Actually, we brought a few fightersdown just to help out tooand, you know it’s, it was, it was toughyou know like everybody was stopped. Butwe found the ways toto get better, so we asked about thepandemic. How are you feeling nowobviouslyfight week? Um hasn’t happened to you inover 14 months. Does this feel anydifferentum? Obviously um didn’t add any weight. Oranything like that weight cuts goingsmoothly, you feel goodwell. You know, there’s always the littlestumps and bumps that you got ta overcomeuh, that’s part of fighting. Like i don’tthink i ever haduh the same uh experience from everysingle fight, there’s always somethingnewthat. I have to overcome. You know butthat’s. What makes fighting so excitingyou know if i knew everything that wasgonna happen. I’Ll probably be changingand doing something else. You know quitea while ago, um butyou know it’s having these little bumpsis. What makes it exciting you knowhaving those bumps and overcoming themuh. You know things not going rightwhenever. They should be going right, andovercoming that, like that’s what ireally enjoy about fightingand. To be honest, this is a differentexperiencebut, i think my experience through all myfightinguh and all the times that i’ve beenabroad is really helping. Now you knowjust toto know that uh you just stay calm, insituations, where thingsbecome very chaotic, so yeah man, you knowi’m, excited it’sbrand new experience. You know it’s in adifferent country, different placeuh, different obstacles that i had toovercome different way that i had toapproachthrough training as well. It’S you knowevery single type of fight is differentand. That’S what i love about. Fightingi want to uh. I want to also add that youare uh, like mehispanic, canadian and uh yeah, how doesithow does it feel to to represent bothflagsman? It’S it’s very unique. You know um nomany people can do itespecially for another con from othernations around the world, like i’m veryblessed that canada is a multiculturalcountryso they’re, very welcoming to othernations, which is awesome, and you knowit feels great, because you know i istill have a lot of pr proudness andpride Fromparaguay, because you know the cultureand all those things i mean i movedfrom parallel when i was 14, so you knowstill, a big part of my life was on theirsaleand, but also you know, i, my family, isfrom canadamy wife’s eyes. I’Ve been in canada for along time and all my friends, my coachesmy training partners, my sponsors ourcanadians soit’s. It’S amazing to be able torepresent, my community, you know thepeoplethat what i was born with and then alsothe people that are with me todayand. You know it’s very unique. Like i sayi’m i’m very thankful and very blessedfor thatexperience, i want to uhi want to add um you’re fighting inmexicoalso. This weekend there is anothermexican fighteras hispanics. We always end up kind, ofrootingand, leaning towards hispanic fightersthat being said. There’S a huge fightthis weekend: brandon morenocan bring a belt to mexico. Oh that’sright, that’s right! Yeah, competingagainst, davis and figueroawho looks unbelievable. If you have aprediction for that, fightwho do you think, is going to win it. Ahman i’ll, be honest to you. I really don’tfollow moreno muchuh. I follow figueroa a lot, so i know hisstuffi think i think moreno brings a fightyou, know he’s just latino very fierybut. I think i think figure uh figueroais just a little moreexperience. In that sense you know ithink he’s gon na take it and i’mthinking submission. To be honest, it’s amission as well. I don’t know which roundi cannot give you around because youknow, like i’m alreadylike, i said moreno, is not an easy fightyou know he can easily finish this fightbut. I will just lean towards uh figueroatoto. Get that submission okay and i’ll askyou, one last questionum for people who haven’t seen you fightwhat. Can they expectuh from you um this weekend? Um, it’s ainsidesimon, that’s all i can say you know. Myfights always are different. I alwayshaveuh, you know, there’s little things: thatmakes itunique, that you know every singlefighter has butum. I think it’s you knowit’s always different. Whenever i get inthere, it’s always a different outcomealways different matchups, there’s alwayssomething new to expect so all i can sayis excitement right. I mean i come tofight, i know he comes to fightand um, it’s just i’m here we’re bothhere to put a good show and that’s whati’m, saying andof course. In the end of the day, uhhopefullyif god permits you know the victorycomes to my house and that’s whatthat’s. What i’m looking for all rightperfect is there anybody you want to uhto thank before we uh before we end thisi, always love to thank everybody, rightafter the fight, because the job is notover yetso. I love i love to showing them mythankfuluh my thank yous with the way that ifight. But you know i wan na i wan na thankeverybody that support me all the waythrough hereand um yeah. Soon after the fight i’mgonna say i’m gon na i’m gon na do all mythings properlyhow. It should be done because the job isnot done yeti, love that i love my job, all right, manwell best of luck. This weekendobviously, you have both the entirehispanic community behind youup here in canada and all of canada. Sobest of luck, man we’re rooting for youand. I can’t wait to watch you fightperfect man. Thanks appreciate it thankyou for the call all right. Man stay safecool, cool thanks man all right. There, yougo alex martinez, he’s competing thisweekend for icon fighting federationif, you haven’t make sure you follow himhe’s, uh, very, very talented and one ofthethe brightest prospects in all of canadaand. I am really really looking forwardto his fightand. If you haven’t yet be sure to likecomment and subscribe, and i will see youguys
