The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Martinez enjoys premiere of ‘Fighter’
An hour before the premiere of “The Ultimate Fighter 27: Undefeated,” everyone at Avon Brewing Company was waiting excitedly for the show to begin — except the star himself.
Jose Martinez was no doubt thrilled to have countless of his closest friends and family on hand April 18 to celebrate his greatest fighting accomplishment to date, but the 28-year-old Lorain resident was admittedly nervous in the moments leading up to the show’s airing.
“It’s thrilling, it’s exciting, (but I’m) a little bit nervous, a little bit anxious,” Martinez said. “I’m just excited to see how the show turns out. We still don’t know what to expect on it. Overall, it’s a great experience, just a little nerve wrecking right now.”
Martinez was the only person in attendance who knows how the show will actually play out. He has been sworn to secrecy while it
airs but said it hasn’t been too difficult to keep the details to himself.
Other than knowing what happened over the course of filming in Las Vegas, Martinez and the 15 other fighters will watch the show with the rest of the audience.
Until the watch party, Martinez hadn’t even seen a clip from the season.
“No one that’s on the cast knows how (the show) is gonna play out,” Martinez said. “We know who’s gonna fight when, but tonight’s just like an introductory night, see us go in the house, get introduced and whatnot.”
Martinez was selected by current UFC heavyweight champion and fellow Northeast Ohio native, Stipe Miocic, to be on Team Stipe throughout the show.
Daniel Cormier, the light heavyweight champion, will coach the other team as he and Miocic prepare for their headlining fight July 6 in Las Vegas.
“We built our relationship on the show,” Martinez said of Miocic. “I’m actually now a part of Strong Style (a gym in Independence where Miocic trains) so I see him at some practices and our relationship has grown.”
Those in attendance at the watch party included Martinez’s mother and girlfriend as well as promoter Lorenzo Gentile, who has become a close personal friend of Martinez over the past decade as he climbed the MMA ranks.
“I’m very excited for him. It’s his dream come true,” Gentile said. “They say it’s living vicariously through someone else’s eyes and this is the definition of that.”