The Bellator season ten featherweight tournament will continue tomorrow night with the semifinals and Will Martinez will look to punch his ticket to the tournament final when he faces Desmond Green. 
The bout between Martinez and Green will be the co-main event of the fight card, which will come from the Maverik Center in West Valley City, Utah.
Martinez (9-2-1) secured his spot in this fight by defeating Goiti Yamauchi at Bellator 110 last month by unanimous decision. It was his eight straight victory and five of those wins have come in the Bellator cage. He came in as over a three to one underdog in that fight and he is a two to one underdog against Green.
“I was +330 on the betting odds so I was a huge underdog, and obviously really happy that I beat Goiti Yamauchi,” Martinez said. “I don’t really care about what people think though. This is far from the first time I’ve come in as the underdog and won. I never go in with the mindset that I have to prove anybody wrong, they just have to eat their words after it happens. I could care less what people think.”
Martinez and Green have the same amount of professional mixed martial arts fights, but Martinez is nine years older. While Martinez is known for Brazilian jiu-jitsu, Green is known for his background as a wrestler. Both fighters are from the northeastern part of the United States and Martinez was aware of his opponent tomorrow night before entering this tournament.
“I’ve heard of Des Green when I used to fight at 155,” Martinez said. “His name came up in a couple circles. I know his team, Team Bombsquad. I’m familiar with a lot of those guys. I saw his win over Mike Richman. You can’t take away from anyone who fights because we’re all warriors. But his style of fighting is really difficult to deal with because he doesn’t fight! I don’t think his mentality is to get in there and throw. He backpedaled the whole fight and didn’t really want to engage. He’s a good wrestler, and strong, but I can’t figure out his style of fighting.”
In the opening round of the tournament, Green won a decision over former tournament finalist Mike Richman and people were split on whether Green had actually won the fight. Martinez feels that Richman should have walked away the winner as he felt he won two of the three rounds. However, Green won the fight by unanimous decision and he will now face Martinez, who is critical of how Green fights in the cage.
“Most guys really fight,” Martinez explained. “They come to fight. They’ll go to the ground and try to beat you up and submit you, or come right at you and kick you and punch you. But Des Green seems like the exact opposite – like, he’ll jab you, and then think, ‘OK, I landed a punch, I must be winning the round’ and then backpedal. How do you fight like that? It’s just an awkward style. I don’t understand that.”
“I respect every style of fighting, it’s just hard to understand his style. If that’s what he thinks his fighting style is, to get a few takedowns or land a few jabs to win the fight, OK. Me, as his opponent, I have to stop that. But I don’t know what kind of fighter he is. I just know I’m going to come after him.”
For Martinez, this will be all about coming forward and pushing pressure on Green. He does not want to give him a chance to breathe and he will be coming straight at Green once the bell sounds and when it ends. He understands that Green’s best weapon is his wrestling and he needs to stop the takedown attempts and force him to stand and trade.
“We all know that if I stop his wrestling, he’ll have to stand. I’m not the best striker in the world but I’m efficient enough to hurt him. So Key #1 is to stop his takedowns and make him fight. Key #2 is to enforce my will on Desmond Green. If I do those things, it’s likely that I’ll win the fight. Unless I get knocked out.”
“I see this fight against Des Green going with me walking him down and hurting him often. I don’t know if I’ll be able to finish or knock him out, but I’ll be moving forward for every second of the fight. I’m going to do what I do, which is to come forward and look to finish the fight.”