Seattle – UFC bantamweight Rob Font went from fighting a legend of the sport to taking on a young up-and-coming Jean Matsumoto just a couple of weeks before his fight at UFC Seattle.
Former two-time UFC bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz suffered a bad shoulder injury that not only took him out of the fight, but pushed him to retire with just weeks left before the fight.
“I hope I didn’t jinx myself. I knew about it, we had an idea that we were going to get offered Cruz, and then the moment I got the contract I was like, ‘alright I just hope he doesn’t get injured. I hope he makes it through a camp’,” Font told reporters including Cageside Press on Wednesday.
“Then, obviously, he gets injured. He retires. I’m happy for him. Excited to see what he does next, but it sucked. I didn’t get to fight another legend. A guy I kind of grew up watching. When I first got into MMA I was watching more WEC. He was one of the main guys out there.”
Font (21-8) had to pivot quickly towards a new opponent. After being offered a couple of options they settled on Matsumoto for the fight in Seattle.
“They initially offered (Raul) Rosas Jr,” he said.
“I’m not sure what happened. We said yeah, but the fight didn’t happen. Then Chris Gutierrez threw his name into the mix. I don’t think the UFC liked that idea at first, but they were like let’s throw Matsumoto at him. We accepted.”
It’s a change of opponent and style, but one Font didn’t mind making.
“This is a dangerous guy, but it’s a good matchup. If you look at his style, it’s completely different from Cruz, but it’s going to be a fun fight,” said Font.
“He’s throwing big hands, big left hooks, and a lot of head kicks. He’s looking for takedowns as well. Little more straight forward than what Cruz would be doing. I like the matchup, but then again in the UFC all these matchups are tough. If I had to choose it would have been him over the rest of the monsters out there.”
Watch the entire media day scrum with Rob Font above. He takes on Jean Matsumoto at UFC Seattle on Saturday night.
