Sal Everett Knocks Out Ozzy Martin and Leaves the UFC Staff Job
Salahuddin Everett knocked out Ozzy Martin in the first round of the co-main event on Dana White’s Contender Series 95. The stoppage came at 1:57 on Tuesday at the UFC APEX in Las Vegas, and Dana White awarded his own runner a UFC contract.
The official result was a KO/TKO by punches. Everett scored the only knockdown. He stuck the jab, then dropped Martin with a right hand, and the referee waved it off with Martin flat on the canvas.
The numbers were a short striking fight. Everett landed 19 of 39 total strikes, all of them significant, including 14 of 31 to the head. Martin connected on 16 of 31 and was more accurate to the body, 6 of 6. Neither man scored a takedown. Control time was 0:01 to 0:05.
Everett moved to 5-0. Martin fell to 4-1.
The finish was the second half of a story that started with a job interview. Everett works as White’s personal runner after earlier security work for the promotion, and he fights on the side. He had finished all four previous professional bouts in the first round.
“I actually applied for the UFC in 2019 and didn’t get the job,” Everett told Spinnin’ Backfist before the bout. “I remember telling the director of security — he asked me where I would see myself in five years — and I told him, ‘Fighting for the UFC.’ And he actually didn’t give me the job for whatever reason. A year and a half later, or two years later, I wound up working for them.”
Tuesday was the version of that answer that came with a contract. White praised him cage-side and handed over the deal. The staff job is the part that now has to change.
Martin came in unbeaten at 4-0 and lost the first exchange that mattered. The body work did not buy him time once the right hand landed. A Contender Series bid that started even on the record sheet ended before the two-minute mark.
The main event still produced another signing. Preston LaGrange knocked out Nell Ariano later in the night and also earned a deal. Everett was the name that turned the APEX, because the winner clocks in for the man holding the contract.
No first UFC opponent was named after the hand was raised. Everett leaves Las Vegas at 5-0, with four previous first-round finishes and a fifth that got him off the runner list. White needs a new errand guy. The roster has a new fighter.
