BREAKING: Said Nurmagomedov vs. Jonathan Martinez booked for March

Said Nurmagomedov will face off against Jonathan Martinez in a bantamweight bout that promises to be a barnburner at UFC Vegas 71 on March 11. News of the fight getting booked was first reported by MMA journalist Carlos Contreras Legaspi and later reposted by journalist Marcel Dorff.

Nurmagomedov currently occupies the No.14-rank in the bantamweight division and the surging Dagestan-born fighter is riding an impressive four-fight win streak. In his most recent outing, he secured a second-round submission against Saidyokub Kakhramonov at UFC Vegas 66. Said Nurmagomedov last tasted defeat in 2019, against Raoni Barcelos.

His next opponent Jonathan Martinez is on a similar four-fight win streak and is coming off a stunning second-round knockout win over Cub Swanson at UFC Vegas 62. His impressive showing out also won him the Performance of the Night bonus that same evening.

A successful result against Nurmagomedov in March could place Martinez on the cusp of facing a higher-ranked opponent or even potentially breaking into the bantamweight rankings.

UFC Vegas 71 will see former bantamweight champion Petr Yan go up against the No.3-ranked Merab Dvalishvili in the headliner. Yan will be looking to bounce back from two consecutive losses and hopefully return to title contention.

Place your bets for the upcoming UFC fight night main card and earn $$$

---

When Chael Sonnen praised Said Nurmagomedov for putting on the "single greatest" performance at UFC 270

Said Nurmagomedov faced Cody Stamann at UFC 270 in January last year and the 30-year-old Dagestan-born fighter secured a blitzkrieg victory with a stunning 47-second submission in the very first round.

His impressive grappling display won him the Performance of the Night bonus and undoubtedly put the bantamweight division on alert. While his performance definitely impressed many fans and fighters, Chael Sonnen once claimed that it was the greatest performance of the event overall.

In a video uploaded to his YouTube channel, Sonnen praised Said Nurmagomedov for his grappling exhibition and stated:

"He did everything you can do to a human being in forty-one seconds. Stamann is a straight-up bada**... Nurmagomedov hit him in the mouth, spin-kicked him in the bread basket and locked him up, dragged him to the ground and tapped him out. He did all of that in forty seconds. It was the single greatest performance of the night... It was unbelieveable."

Sonnen further drove home the point that Said Nurmagomedov was his 'MVP' of the night and did better than the champions who fought in the event. The event was headlined by Francis Ngannou vs. Ciryl Gane and Brandon Moreno vs. Deiveson Figueiredo trilogy bout in the co-main.

Watch the full video below: