On a given fight night, Joe Martinez cues up the main event of a combat sports card with this classic line: “The judges are ready! The fighters are ready! (Name of host city,) make some noise if YOU ARE READY!” If you’ve had the chance to watch an MMA or boxing card over the years, odds are that at some point, you’ve heard Martinez introduce the fighters.
His workload has stretched beyond the world of competitive violence, however. In his early career, Martinez, an alumnus of Cal State Fullerton, served as the public address announcer for Lake Elsinore Storm home games.
The Lake Elsinore Storm are currently the Single-A farm team in the San Diego Padres organization after spending 20 years as a farm affiliate to the then-California Angels organization in Minor League Baseball. Joe Martinez’ career began to pick up steam from there.
Joe Martinez Gets Noticed by High-Profile Clientele
Concurrent to his duties in Lake Elsinore, Martinez served in the same capacity for his alma mater of Cal State Fullerton, barring any scheduling conflicts. From there, he secured his first big break, working for the NCAA.
During the 1998 NCAA Division I Women’s College World Series, Martinez worked as the public address announcer. That year’s National Championship was won by Fresno State University over The University of Arizona, 1-0. Arizona’s program had won the championship in each of the two previous seasons.
As the 1990’s gave way to the 21st century, Joe Martinez’ workload increased, announcing warm-up games involving the United States Olympic softball team in the weeks leading up to the 2000 Summer Olympic Games in Sydney, Australia. Subsequently, he found himself as the PA man at Harlem Globetrotters performances.
Martinez Gets Into the Ring for FOX Show and Called Up To Bat for The Show
Joe Martinez was heard on network television in September of 2004, when he lent his voice to The Next Great Champ, a reality/ competition show chronicling Oscar de la Hoya’s quest to find a future gladiator in the world of pugilism. This series didn’t last, ending its run after a single season.
The Next Great Champ had a channel hop during its time on the air. Four episodes aired on FOX before the remainder of the series moved to cable’s FOX Sports Net (now FanDuel Sports Network.)
Short run aside, Joe Martinez’ job responsibilities didn’t stop there and hasn’t stopped since, with his digitized voice being heard on Sony Computer Entertainment’s MLB The Show video game series, acting as the in-universe public address announcer in MLB The Show 06 and MLB The Show 07. Among Martinez’ current clientele: Golden Boy Promotions, founded by Oscar de la Hoya.
Martinez Joins UFC and Works PPV
Prior to Joe Martinez’ run as the cage announcer for the late World Extreme Cagefighting (WEC), the promotion was acquired by the UFC, with WEC and UFC coming to terms on a merger in October of 2010. In May of 2010, five months prior to the merger being finalized, Martinez and WEC parted ways.
He’d make his UFC debut as an Octagon announcer in late 2012 and has done north of 100 events under the promotional banner since then, with Martinez hitting triple digits in the summer of 2024. While Joe Martinez is a regular on UFC Fight Night shows, he’d be called upon to work a flagship show during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021.
In the final days before the Oct. 30, 2021 UFC 267 pay-per-view in Abu Dhabi, Bruce Buffer, the Voice of the Octagon, who had worked every premium live event for the UFC since 1996, entered quarantine after testing positive for the virus. Joe Martinez substituted for Buffer that night.
Final Thoughts
Joe Martinez’ career as a public address announcer, ring announcer, and now Octagon announcer, is a storied and successful one. Here’s hoping it continues for many years to come.
