Preview: UFC Nashville Prelims

Strawweights

Fatima Kline (7-1, 1-1 UFC) vs. Melissa Martinez (8-1, 1-1 UFC)

ODDS: Kline (-1450); Martinez (+800)

A few years ago, this matchup would have scanned as an intriguing, high-stakes clash of rising contenders, but in Summer of 2025 it looks like a squash match. That is all down to “Super Mely,” as Kline has kept to her prospect trajectory while Martinez has been hampered by long layoffs and stagnation. Kline’s UFC debut gets a mulligan, as she not only fought up a weight class on short notice, but the opponent was Jasmine Jasudavicius, a Top 10 fighter and one of the larger women in the flyweight division.

Kline actually performed admirably considering the daunting scenario, and her sophomore outing in January against Victoria Dudakova was closer to what we might have expected. Kline punished Dudakova on the feet, pancaked her takedown attempts, swept her after being taken down, and generally thrashing her so badly that Dudakova’s viral post-fight slap of one of her own coaches should go onto Kline's personal highlight reel. In her energy and confidence if not her exact skill set, the 24-year-old New Yorker is reminiscent of another young prospect to come out of the Tri-State Area in recent years, Erin Blanchfield, but where Blanchfield is a lights-out grappler whose striking is a work in progress, Kline is already one of the most well-rounded fighters in her division.

Martinez at one point could have been compared to a previous hot prospect, as her rise from Mexico to become Combate Global’s first-ever women’s strawweight champ reminded me a bit of Maycee Barber. The burly and aggressive Martinez, like Barber, overcame average athleticism with a relentless motor and killer instinct. While Martinez can throw clean punch combinations and has decent head movement, she has usually been at her best punching her way into range, bowling her opponent over and swarming them on the ground like a young Barber or a miniature Diego Sanchez.

When Martinez won the Combate title in 2019, she looked like part of the future of the division, whether in Combate, Invicta or the UFC, but that train has skipped the rails several times. Part of the issue is activity: Martinez was out of action for almost three years after winning the title, then for another two full years after her UFC debut. To put that in perspective, Martinez’s UFC debut was at UFC 279 in September of 2022, a card headlined by Khamzat Chimaev throttling Kevin Holland. Since then, Holland has fought 10 more times. Chimaev, who is frequently derided for never fighting, has fought twice. Martinez has fought once.

Martinez is still only 27, however. More concerning than the layoffs is the fact that her game does not appear to have developed, and her current skill set is simply not enough to carry her against most UFC strawweights. She is short and stocky for the division, and even against Elise Reed at UFC 279, she was unable to overwhelm her foe as she had been used to doing at lower levels of the sport. That means trouble against Kline, who is bigger, younger, faster and more skilled than Reed. The pick here is for Martinez to hear the final horn, but expect a complete mauling. Kline by decision, and don’t be surprised if it’s 30-26 all around.



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