Sherdog Prospect Watch: Brett Martin

On Friday, PFL Challenger Series 6 will feature one of the sport’s most interesting heavyweight free agents. Brett Martin presents with a record of ten wins, a single defeat and one no-contest. The 27-year-old “Big Dog” will fight for a place in the Professional Fighters League regular season when he locks horns with Brazil’s Giacomo Lemos. The combined record of Martin’s opponents consists of 79 victories, 57 losses, and a draw, a win rate of 58%. In victory, Martin has upended his foes on the scorecards four times and scored as many stoppages. He has also recorded two wins by disqualification, following his illegal strikes by his opponents.

As a junior college All-American wrestler at Muskegon Community College in Michigan, Martin always knew that his destiny was to fight in a cage at some point in his life. He started his transition to mixed martial arts in 2015, and his fighting style reflects his past as a 285-pound wrestler. Martin relies heavily on his grappling skills, moving the action to the canvas as soon as possible and hammering his opponents there. Over the years, he has implemented a few submissions in his arsenal, but the biggest improvements have been seen in his striking game. In his latest fights, he looked more comfortable on the feet as he showed some muay Thai and boxing refinement.

In his first professional MMA bout, Martin opted not to cut to the 265-pound heavyweight limit and fought at super heavyweight. On that occasion, he finished his opponent in 43 seconds. Following a no-contest, Martin scored three consecutive victories, which earned him the chance to fight for the Warrior Xtreme Cagefighting heavyweight belt at WXC 73. That night, Martin faced Bellator MMA alum Leroy Johnson. Much to everyone’s surprise, Johnson outmatched Martin at his own game, wrestling, en route to a unanimous decision victory. All three scorecards read 50-44 in favor of Johnson.

Having learned the harsh lesson and suffered his first defeat, Martin bounced back on track by taking home a decision against Ryan Pokryfky. In his next fight, “Big Dog” imposed his will on current Ultimate Fighting Championship fighter Josh Parisian, who was coming off a highlight-reel knockout victory on Dana White's Contender Series. In their clash, Martin forced Parisian to tap to a quick kimura 68 seconds out of the gate.



After picking up another decision win, Martin signed with the Legacy Fighting Alliance, where he debuted against Renan Ferreira. Unfortunately, their battle ended after Ferreira was disqualified for landing some punches to the back of Martin’s head. In victory, Martin obtained a shot at the vacant LFA heavyweight championship. While it was arguably the most critical fight in his career, Martin missed weight by 6.6 pounds the day before the clash. The bout itself wasn’t without controversy as it ended after illegal knees were thrown, and Martin was declared the winner by disqualification. Martin then spent more than a year looking for another fight as many matchups, including one with UFC veteran Antonio Silva, fell apart. In his latest appearance, Martin outpointed Marino Eatman via unanimous decision at XFC 44.