Martínez's career was launched when he competed in the 1997 National Physique CommitteeNew York Metro Championships as a light heavyweight, where he placed first. He continued competing in NPC tournaments until 2001, where he competed in his first IFBB tournament, the Night of Champions, where he placed 8th. The following year, in 2002, he competed in his first Arnold Classic, and placed 13th. He also competed in his first Ironman Pro Invitational the same year, placing 9th. In 2003 he went on to win the Night of Champions. His first Mr. Olympia came in 2004, where he placed 9th, but he advanced to 5th place in 2005, 3rd place in 2006, and 2nd place in 2007 In 2005 Ronnie Coleman predicted that Martínez would be his successor as Mr. Olympia, although this position was held by Jay Cutler, then Dexter Jackson. In 2007, Martínez took first at the Arnold Classic. Martínez later finished second to Jay Cutler at the 2007 Mr. Olympia contest. In January 2008, Martínez underwent surgery to repair his left patellar tendon which ruptured while he was performing warm-up lunges. Due to the severity of the injury, he was unable to compete in either the 2008 Arnold Classic or 2008 Mr. Olympia contests. After almost a year away from training and competition, Victor Martinez resumed training with his old friend and strength & condition coach Jakob Panotas. During their 9 months of hardcore training and rehabbing his knee, he came strong and placed 2nd at 2009 Arnold Classic in Columbus Ohio by only 2-3 points behind 1st place Kai Greene. In July 2009, Martínez's sister Eridania Rodríguez disappeared from work at a NY skyscraper under mysterious circumstances. Her body was found four days later inside a ventilation shaft on the floor where she was working. Joseph Pabon, a handyman working in the building, was convicted of her murder on April 2, 2012. Martínez was co-owner of the Muscle Maker Grill in Edgewater NJ and is the spokesperson for the franchise as a whole. He lost the business due to being incarcerated for more than six weeks for immigration violations. He was arrested on returning to the U.S. on October 9, 2011, after winning the Arnold Europe in Madrid, Spain. His permanent resident card had expired and, due to his criminal record for selling steroids in 2004, it was not renewed. Instead, he was sent to a detention center in New Jersey to await a deportation hearing that could have sent him back to his native Dominican Republic. He was denied bail. A few of the documents were not in order, and his final hearing was postponed until April 2012. He was held at the Hudson County Correctional Facility in South Kearny, New Jersey. On April 27, he returned to court and was released from jail and permitted to remain in the U.S. Martínez has two sons, Justin and Jared and three daughters, Victoria, Zayde and Vivian
