It’s been 10 years since Matt Schnell turned his run on The Ultimate Fighter into a UFC contract and he hasn’t looked back since. He’s now fought 16 times for the company – picking up two fight of the night bonuses and a performance bonus in the process.
While that career has been a dream, he’s expanding his dream in the world of MMA as well. In addition to his work in the cage, he’s stepping outside to do some work for American Kombat Alliance (AKA) out of his home state of Louisiana. When the promotion first started, he started commentating for them, but has since expanded into working as the matchmaker. That’s work that has been extremely rewarding to him.
“It is some of the most fulfilling work I’ve done within martial arts is as a matchmaker,” Schnell shared. “Watching these guys go out there and compete.”
The best part of the job is seeing things come together. While he loves to play analyst and try to figure out what’s going to happen, it’s always a surprise.
“In the grand scheme of things, the best part about matchmaking is just when they come together. Even with all of my experience – and I do believe I’m quite competent and I have an eye for understanding who’s going to go out there and let it rip, who’s going to go out there and bang event after event – I am so surprised,” he explained. “I’m as surprised as everybody else there about what just happened. You put together fights that you know they’re going to be good fights, but I like to put together fights that I’m not sure who’s going to win it. And still in my mind’s eye, I try to work it out. So often, so often I am completely wrong.”
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While he’s loving the process, it’s not all sunshine and rainbows. The work getting fighters at the beginning of their careers to test themselves can sometimes be arduous.
“It is hard to get two knuckleheads to agree to fight each other. I’m telling you, for various reasons, guys have coaches and people that they trust to make the best decision for them,” he said. “I genuinely do believe oftentimes they believe they’re looking out for their fighter, but you’re not looking out for a guy if you’re trying to protect his record – especially as an amateur, there is no gamesmanship.”
Schnell will put that work aside for Saturday as he steps back into the cage to face late-replacement Alessandro Costa. That fight takes place on the main card of UFC Vegas 118, which starts this Saturday at 5pm EST on Paramount+.
