Rob
Font entered a firefight with Adrian
Yanez at UFC 287,
and after a little less than three minutes, emerged with an
enthralling technical knockout victory.
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“I don’t know how not to get into something like that,” Font
admitted at Saturday’s post-fight press conference. “I believe he’s
the same way. I like to say I want to stay calm, it just never
happens. It felt good to be back. Big ‘W,’ just all smiles right
now.”
Font entered the matchup with Yanez on the heels of back-to-back
losses to Marlon Vera
and Jose
Aldo. To maintain his footing at bantamweight, he had to hold
off a surging contender who was previously unbeaten in five UFC
appearances.
“Obviously losing to Chito and Aldo sucked,” Font said. “I needed
to bounce back for myself, for my team, for my family. To go out
and do it on a big pay-per-view against a dangerous guy like
Adrian, I’m all smiles. I can’t stop cheesing.”
More than anything, Font needed to prove to himself that he was
still the same competitor who emerged as a contender during a
four-bout winning streak from 2018 to 2021 that included triumphs
over the likes of Sergio
Pettis, Marlon
Moraes and Cody
Garbrandt.
“I think I had something to prove to myself,” Font said. “Obviously
I needed that for myself. I needed to remind myself that I’m still
here. I’m still that guy. If I get going on anybody, that’s exactly
what’s going to happen to everybody.”
For an encore, Font has designs on welcoming Deiveson
Figueiredo to the bantamweight division. The former flyweight
king is expected to move to 135 pounds on the heels of his loss to
Brandon
Moreno at UFC 283 in January.
“I would love to do ‘Figgy’ vs. Font, man. [Figueiredo], I’d love
to introduce him to the 135 division,” Font said “I think that’d be
a fun fight. I think I like fighting big names. I definitely don’t
want to fight backward, but I think me and him could definitely be
a great fight.
“He’s a former champ. He’s exciting. I know he’s going to talk a
lot of s—t. I think it’d be a great, entertaining type of fight,
and I think I need another big name like that.”