Martin Richard Day (born November 10, 1988) is a Japanese-born American

mixed martial artist Mixed martial arts (MMA) is a full-contact fighting sport based on striking and grappling; incorporating techniques from various combat sports from around the world. In the early 20th century, various inter-stylistic contests took place t ...

who competes in the

Bantamweight Bantamweight is a weight class in combat sports and weightlifting. For boxing, the range is above and up to . In kickboxing, a bantamweight fighter generally weighs between . In mixed martial arts, MMA, bantamweight is . The name for the class ...

division. He formerly competed in the

Ultimate Fighting Championship The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) is an American mixed martial arts (MMA) promoter (entertainment), promotion company based in Las Vegas, Nevada. It is owned and operated by TKO Group Holdings, a majority owned subsidiary of Endeavor ( ...

Background

The son of missionaries, Martin was born in

Nagoya is the largest city in the Chūbu region of Japan. It is the list of cities in Japan, fourth-most populous city in Japan, with a population of 2.3million in 2020, and the principal city of the Chūkyō metropolitan area, which is the List of ...

, Japan while his parents were stationed there and his family moved to Hawaii when he was 9 months old. He has eight other siblings. He started training in Taekwondo when he was 13 and started competing around the same time. After starting boxing around the age of 15 and accumulated quite a bit of amateur kickboxing fights, he decided to try MMA. Currently, Day is a 5th degree Dan Black Belt in ITF Taekwondo.

Martial arts career

He used to work at martial arts company and now he runs prime martial arts. He started training in February 2002 and started teaching in October 2002. He was taught by KukSahNim Samuel K. Bishaw Jr.

Mixed martial arts career

Early career

Starting his career in 2015, Day earned an impressive record of 6–1, before he was invited on

Dana White's Contender Series Dana White's Contender Series, formerly named Dana White's Tuesday Night Contender Series, is an American mixed martial arts promotion. In May 2017, the UFC announced White would hold the competition weekly on UFC Fight Pass (It has since been mov ...

. Day's lone loss in the road prior to DWTNCS came in March 2017 when he suffered defeat to

Bellator MMA Bellator MMA (formerly Bellator Fighting Championships) was an American mixed martial arts promotion (entertainment), promotion founded in 2008 by Bjorn Rebney and operated until 2025. The promotion takes its name from ''wikt:bellator, bellātor ...

and LFA veteran Nohelin Hernandez. Day's first shot under the ZUFFA lights came against Jaime Alvarez on Dana White's Contender Series 6 in August 2017. Day came out early with very solid leg kicks but was unable to get the judges’ decision at the end of the bout. After the defeat, Day continued to win on the Hawaiian and California regional scenes. Day won all three of his following bouts, two of them by finishes. The final of the three was against the undefeated Brady Huang. Huang was 8-0 going into the matchup with all eight bouts ending by finish and seven of those eight ending in the first round. The two battled URCC 34: Destiny in August 2018 as the co-main event to former UFC veteran

Tyson Griffin Tyson Lee Griffin (born April 20, 1984) is a retired American mixed martial artist who competed in the lightweight division. He competed for the UFC, Strikeforce, the RFA, and the World Series of Fighting. Background Griffin was a standout wrest ...

. Day made quick work of the undefeated star, knocking out Huang in the second round.

Ultimate Fighting Championship

Day made his UFC debut on November 24, 2018, at UFC Fight Night: Blaydes vs. Ngannou 2 against

Liu Pingyuan Liu Pingyuan (born February 13, 1993) is a Chinese mixed martial artist (MMA), who competed in the bantamweight division in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). Mixed martial arts career Early career Liu started his professional MMA car ...

. He lost the fight via split decision. Martin Day faced

Davey Grant David Jeremy Grant (born 18 December 1985) is an English mixed martial artist. He was one of the cast members for UFC TV series The Ultimate Fighter: Team Rousey vs. Team Tate and currently competes in the Bantamweight division of the Ultimate ...

on July 11, 2020, at

UFC 251 ''UFC 251: Usman vs. Masvidal'' was a mixed martial arts event produced by the Ultimate Fighting Championship that took place on July 12, 2020 at the Yas Island#du Arena and Forum, du Forum on Yas Island, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. It was o ...

. He lost the fight via knockout in the third round. Day fought Anderson dos Santos on November 28, 2020, at UFC on ESPN: Smith vs. Clark. He lost the fight via first round guillotine choke. Day faced Timur Valiev on February 6, 2021, at UFC Fight Night: Overeem vs. Volkov. He lost the fight via unanimous decision. On February 18, 2021, it was announced that Day had been released from the UFC.

Post UFC

In his first appearance after leaving the UFC, Day faced Ramon Taveras on April 30, 2022 at Combat Night Pro:Jacksonville. He lost the bout via guillotine choke in the first round.

Championships and accomplishments

Universal Reality Combat Championship Universal Reality Combat Championship (URCC) is the first and only professional mixed martial arts promotion based in the Philippines. Its inaugural event was held at the Casino Filipino Amphitheater in Parañaque, Philippines on November 23, ...

**URCC Bantamweight Championship (One time)

Mixed martial arts record

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Jacksonville, Florida Jacksonville ( ) is the most populous city proper in the U.S. state of Florida, located on the Atlantic coast of North Florida, northeastern Florida. It is the county seat of Duval County, Florida, Duval County, with which the City of Jacksonv ...

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Las Vegas, Nevada Las Vegas, colloquially referred to as Vegas, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and the county seat of Clark County. The Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area is the largest within the greater Mojave Desert, and second-l ...

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Richmond, California Richmond is a city in western Contra Costa County, California, United States. The city was municipal corporation, incorporated on August 3, 1905, and has a Richmond, California, City Council, city council.

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Honolulu, Hawaii Honolulu ( ; ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, located in the Pacific Ocean. It is the county seat of the Consolidated city-county, consolidated City and County of Honol ...

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Jackson, California Jackson (formerly, Botilleas, Botilleas Spring, Bottileas, Bottle Spring, and Botellas) is a city in and the county seat of Amador County, California. Its population was 5,019 at the 2020 census, up from 4,651 at the 2010 census. The city i ...

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Lemoore, California Lemoore (formerly La Tache and Lee Moore's) is a city in Kings County, California, United States. Lemoore is located west-southwest of Hanford, at an elevation of . It is part of the Hanford-Corcoran Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA Code 252 ...

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References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Day, Martin 1988 births Living people American male mixed martial artists Japanese male mixed martial artists Bantamweight mixed martial artists Mixed martial artists utilizing taekwondo Mixed martial artists utilizing boxing Ultimate Fighting Championship male fighters American male taekwondo practitioners Japanese male taekwondo practitioners Martial artists from Nagoya