A contestant on the "Ultimate Fighter 9", Martin Stapleton is a very hardworking MMA prospect currently competing in the lightweight division. A three year veteran of the British fight circuit, Stapleton was a former Royal Marines Physical Training Instructor (PTI) in his home country of England, and has taken his hardworking and disciplined training regimen and applied it to his mixed martial arts career. Stapleton has good size and strength for the division, and is known for his excellent conditioning and ability to push the pace of the fight for three full rounds. Initially, he began his MMA training in 2005 while he was still a full time PTI for the Marines and enters the sport as a hardworking fighter and one of England's more promising young lightweights.

Stapleton is a composed striker who displays sound technical skills and good defense on his feet. He does very well not to get wild or reckless with his striking, possesses good hands - throwing nice, neat punches and putting together crisp combinations. Stapleton has nice, quick footwork, works his jab well and has a nice left hook and straight right. Arguably the most effective weapon on his feet are his leg kicks, as Stapleton is able to unload very quick and effective leg kicks to both the inside and outside of his opponents' legs with equal aplomb. An intelligent striker, Stapleton mixes up his striking well with his punches and kicks flowing very nicely between each other, and has also shown the ability to play the role of a counter puncher very effectively. While he might not have elite-level striking talent on his feet, Stapleton has been studying muay thai since the age of eighteen and he already displays a methodical, patient striking game which only figures to improve as he moves forward in his career.

Early in his career Stapleton has shown strong wrestling abilities including good takedowns, and effective takedown defense. He will try to take the fight to the ground where he's shown he can deliver a powerful ground and pound attack from top positions. Although Stapleton's wrestling has looked good, it should be noted that it hasn't fully been tested yet as he hasn't faced any strong wrestlers himself. Stapleton is definitely the kind of fighter that likes working from the top so how his takedowns and sprawl will match up against the better wrestlers in the division will likely have a large influence on what kind of impact he'll be able to make in the sport going forward. Stapleton will also need to get better at timing and setting up his takedown attempts as he does have a tendency to get hit when shooting in for takedowns, and continue working on his BJJ and submission skills.