Frankie Saenz wants to have the kind of influence on his kids that his father, the man affectionately known as “Big Frank,” has had on him.
“My dad shaped who I was as an athlete growing up,” said the returning bantamweight, who squares off with Jonathan Martinez on the preliminary portion of Saturday night’s fight card at the UFC Apex. “He was there for me with Little League, Pop Warner, and then later on with wrestling. He was super-influential and put a lot of time into me; we created that bond.
“My first seven fights in the UFC, my dad was in my corner because he’s one of those guys that understood me and I felt like with him around, I could just be me.