Jonathan Martinez admits he was starstruck in loss to Jose Aldo, calls for Dominick Cruz at Noche UFC

Jonathan Martinez thought fighting Jose Aldo would be the same as any other opponent. Then the pair got into the octagon at UFC 301, and everything was different.

Martinez (19-5 MMA, 10-4 UFC) was tasked with welcoming UFC Hall of Famer Aldo (32-8 MMA, 14-7 UFC) back from retirement in the co-headliner of the May event in Rio de Janeiro. It didn’t go his way, because “Scarface” turned in a vintage performance to win a unanimous decision.

The result snapped Martinez’s six-fight winning streak, and compared to some of his other recent showings, it seemed he just couldn’t get his offensive going in an effective manner. According to Martinez, much of that had to with being in awe of the legend he was sharing the octagon with.

“It was real tough,” Martinez told MMA Junkie during a recent interview at UFC X. “I trained hard for that fight. The thing was I let the name and the face in front of me, when I went out there in the cage I seen, ‘I’m fighting Jose Aldo.’ That’s when I started to go, ‘Wow.’ Everyone who saw me fight knows that wasn’t me in there. That’s not the way I go in there. I was pretty much just walking, not doing what I was supposed to do and that cost me in the fight.”

Martinez, 30, knows he fumbled a big opportunity to enhance his resume against Aldo, however, he’s not deterred. He wants to right the ship against another legend of the sport, and has his eyes on a showdown with former UFC and WEC titleholder Dominick Cruz, ideally at Noche UFC, which goes down Sept. 14 at Sphere in Las Vegas.

Part of the motivation for the callout, Martinez said, is his recollection of things Cruz (24-4 MMA, 7-3 UFC) has said while commentating his fights over the years.

“I want to be on that (Sphere) card in September,” Martinez said. “I want to be on that card, and I’ve been hearing Dominick Cruz wants to fight on that date, too. Hopefully they give me him. I just hear him every time I fight he’s always saying, ‘I don’t know why they don’t check Jonathan’s kicks.’ Put him in front of me and let him do that and see what happens.”

Martinez said his request to fight Cruz isn’t to right any sort of wrong from the Aldo fight. He doesn’t view “The Dominator” in the same glamorous light as he did Aldo, so for him, it would be a different mindset when he steps in the cage.

“I was never a fan,” Martinez said. “He was just there to me.”

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for Noche UFC.