Mark Martin Reveals the Origin of His ‘Showtime’ Nickname Ahead of PFL Challenger Series 2

The second week of PFL Challenger Series will feature eight welterweight contestants, including Mark Martin. Legacy Fighting Alliance vet Martin (7-1) is competing for a spot on the Professional Fighters League regular season, where he might join many MMA Lab teammates. The 28-year-old is scheduled to clash with Dilano Taylor on Feb. 25, and will enter the cage riding a six-bout winning streak. Ahead of his fight, the former Ohio State University wrestler discussed the origin of his nickame “Showtime,” which he said its not related to the most famous bearer of that handle in MMA, Anthony Pettis.

“Most people think I gave myself that name, but I really didn’t,” Martin said. “It was a nickname given to me back in [my] freshman year [of] high school. This was before Pettis, before I even knew who he was at the time, so it’s just kind of a coincidence. I was a freshman in high school, and I guess I always had that swagger about me. One of the older kids on my wrestling team gave me that nickname, ‘Showtime,’ and it stuck. Everybody started calling me it.”

Martin also talked about training with Ultimate Fighting Championship 185-pound contender Jared Cannonier, explained how he ended up training in Arizona, discussed his expectations for the Challenger Series, and more.

Timestamps:

(00:00) Intro
(01:03) Training at MMA Lab
(01:59) Recollections from the college days
(02:50) Deciding to become a professional fighter
(03:45) Picking MMA Lab as his training camp
(05:17) The origin of his nickname
(06:17) His training camp for Taylor
(07:00) Commenting on Jared Cannonier’s victory over Derek Brunson
(08:02) Training with Cannonier
(09:06) Studying Taylor
(09:50) His expectations for the Challenger Series
(11:02) Watching PFL in the past years
(12:06) His message for Taylor
(13:01) His walkout song
(13:45) Outro

Tudor Leonte started writing about mixed martial arts in 2013 for Italian media outlets. His journey with Sherdog began in 2018 and he now covers One Championship and countless European shows. You can follow him on Twitter @MrTudorLeonte.