Bellator
Bellator signs Rad Martinez following inspirational ESPN Outside the Lines profile piece
Jul 7, 2011 - 9:40:50 AM Bellator signs Rad Martinez following inspirational ESPN Outside the Lines profile piece

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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

The inspirational feature on Rad Martinez on ESPN's Outside the Lines last weekend has led to another chapter being written this week, as the 9-2 fighter signed on with Bellator Fighting Championships and will make his debut this fall.

Martinez, a former NCAA D1 wrestling teammate of UFC Lightweight Champion Frankie Edgar at Clarion University, Martinez says he got into the sport because of the UFC Champ.

"Frankie Edgar is definitely the one that talked me into giving MMA a shot," Martinez said. "Every day he was always telling me how good I would be at MMA and how much I would love it, and eventually he just ended up talking me into it.

"When I first decided I wanted to pursue a career in MMA, there were several different gyms in my area that only offered night classes, and that wasn't going to work with my obligations to my dad. However, The Pit Elevated ended up putting a class together in the afternoon just for me. They really bent over backwards to help me out down there, and if they hadn't done that, I probably wouldn't be competing today."

Martinez does what he can to be a full time fighter, but outside of the cage he's got a much more difficult task: caring for his brain-damaged father. When he was just 12 years old, his father was in a horrible car accident that left him in his state and in need of constant care. Martinez took up the task of his father's care after his grandmother passed away, and now undergoes a daily grind that includes administering hours of physical therapy on his father among other things and trying to get in his training.

With all that he has going on at home, MMA is his outlet and escape from the daily grind, and an opportunity for him to unleash. Now, he'll have a chance to do just that in Bellator's featherweight division.

"When I step in that cage, and even when I get to go to practice, that's when the shackles come off," said Martinez. "That's when I'm free to be me – to think about me and what I have to do right now."

"I've always had confidence in my ability and felt like I could compete with anybody in the world, but when you're talking about guys like Joe Warren, Patricio Pitbull and Marlon Sandro in the Bellator featherweight division, you're talking about three of the absolute best featherweights in the world," said Martinez. "I'm just really looking forward to being able to test myself against that elite level of competition

Bellator CEO Bjorn Rebney told ESPN's Josh Gross on Wednesday that the organization is reaching out to sponsors and are looking to put Martinez "in a position where he has the economic wherewithal" to get more help for his father.

"He's a very talented fighter who happens to have a very inspirational story," Rebney said. "But he needs some help. We're trying to give a guy that could be a very special fighter for us an opportunity, and at the same time it's doing something good that could work out really well for him and us."

Penick's Analysis: This is a great move on Bellator's part from a number of angles. They're doing something great in trying to line Martinez up with some good sponsors, they're getting good publicity for that move and for signing him after seeing his story on Sunday, and they've added a good fighter to their roster in the process. What Martinez has dealt with in taking care of his father on a daily basis is not something many people will ever have to experience, much less someone attempting to make a career as a fighter. He'll certainly have a lot of backers when he makes his Bellator debut, and you can't help but wish the best for him.