“They want him in prison because people saw him as a leader. He was a champion, a well-known athlete. They knew that many people could identify with him.”
14ymedio, Havana, August 13, 2026 – The United States Department of State once again turned its attention this week to the case of Cuban fighter Javier Martín Gutiérrez, known as Spiderman. The Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs recalled on X that the Cuban Mixed Martial Arts League (CFL) champion was arrested in April for peacefully expressing from the balcony of his home the hardships suffered by Cubans and denounced the fact that the regime has still not brought charges against him, “which shows that his detention is completely without grounds.”
The statement comes at an especially delicate moment for the athlete, who remains in pretrial detention while his defense has had four requests to change his precautionary measure rejected. A former training partner, who spoke with 14ymedio on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals, now reconstructs the fighter’s lesser-known story: that of a champion who, according to those who shared the MMA circuit with him, had already begun to become isolated long before ending up in a cell at Combinado del Este.
“He was a healthy, calm young man and completely focused on the sport,” his former teammate says. “I never saw him involved with drugs, crime, or abusing anyone. He had an extremely high level of martial arts ability, but he was respectful even toward his opponents.”
“He always said among friends that this was a dictatorship and that communism was a disaster, but he didn’t want to make himself stand out. Until there came a moment when he simply exploded”
The testimony offers a look at a little-known period in the fighter’s life who, according to those who shared time with him beginning in 2020, already expressed a deep rejection of Cuba’s political system in private, although he avoided doing so publicly so as not to jeopardize his career.
“He always said among friends that this was a dictatorship and that communism was a disaster, but he didn’t want to make himself stand out,” he recalls. “Until there came a moment when he simply exploded.”
His protest eventually became a symbol. Images of the MMA champion denouncing the living conditions in Cuba from the balcony of his home circulated widely on social media before his arrest. But, according to his former teammate, the break between Javier and part of the martial arts community had begun much earlier.
Martín was one of the best-known figures in the CFL and maintained a close relationship with Alejandro Arca, founder of the organization and promoter of the development of MMA in Cuba. “Outside of sports, they treated each other like brothers,” he says. However, that relationship deteriorated over time.
The interviewee maintains that the fighter began to feel marginalized within the league because of his political positions and disagreements with the project’s leadership. According to his account, Javier was convinced that they were gradually trying to push him out of the competitive circuit.
“Javier did not want to sign with Ferrante, and they didn’t like that either. They had already been pushing him aside, and that ended up making things even more complicated”
As an example, he mentions the fight in which Martín lost his championship belt. He claims that Martín was scheduled to defend the title when he had still not recovered from a submission loss a few weeks earlier, during which he was unconscious for several seconds.
The former teammate also links that deterioration to Martín’s refusal to sign a contract with Ferrante, a music producer and founder of Planes Records agency, which, he explains, commercially represents the CFL.
“Javier did not want to sign with Ferrante, and they didn’t like that either. They had already been pushing him aside, and that ended up making things even more complicated,” he maintains. According to his account, Ferrante’s relationship with Arca ultimately influenced the treatment Martín received within the organization. “Arca said that Javier was like a brother, but when he was imprisoned, he completely turned his back on him,” he says. The contrast between the recognition he received as a champion and the silence surrounding his imprisonment is evident.
Those who knew about Martín’s close relationship with several figures in the martial arts world say they expected some public show of support following his arrest. That reaction never came.
Prosecutors are trying to sustain the charge of incitement to violence based on videos recorded during his protests
Meanwhile, the fighter’s legal situation continues to deteriorate. Prosecutors are trying to sustain the charge of incitement to violence based on videos recorded during his protests, an accusation that relatives and human rights organizations consider unfounded.
For his former teammate, the case has a different explanation. “They don’t want him in prison because he is a criminal,” he says. “They want him in prison because people saw him as a leader. He was a champion, a well-known athlete. They knew that many people could identify with him.”
The fighter’s story is no longer about a belt or a victory inside the octagon. The man who for years was recognized for his discipline and ability to overcome his opponents now faces a much more unequal fight: proving his innocence from a maximum-security cell in a country without separation of powers, while the leading figures in the sport to which he devoted much of his life remain silent.
Translated by Regina Anavy
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