Rob Font reveals Raul Rosas Jr. was originally targeted to replace Dominick Cruz at UFC Seattle

Rob Font went through a couple of opponents after Dominick Cruz withdrew from their UFC Seattle fight.

Font was supposed to take on the former bantamweight champ, but a shoulder injury knocked Cruz out. After Cruz pulled out of the fight, he said the original opponent offered was Raul Rosas Jr., but that didn’t come to fruition.

“They initially offered Rosas Jr., they offered him we said yeah, I’m not sure what happened. The fight didn’t happen,” Font said at UFC Seattle media day. “Chris Gutierrez then threw his name in the mix, I don’t think the UFC didn’t like that idea. They then threw Matsumoto at me and we accepted.”

Why the fight didn’t happen is uncertain, but Font says he agreed to the fight and was looking toward to fighting Raul Rosas Jr. at UFC Seattle. Rosas Jr. is 10-1 as a pro and coming off a decision win over Aoriqileng.

Rob Font likes matchup against Jean Matsumoto

After the Rosas Jr. fight fell through, the UFC pivoted to Jean Matsumoto to face Rob Font. It’s a tough fight against the Brazilian, who is undefeated but Font is confident in his skills.

Font believes this is a good matchup for him and he expects to hand Matsumoto his first career loss.

“We sat down and watched his tape and figured out this is a dangerous guy but a good matchup. If you look at his style, it’s completely different from Cruz, but it’s going to be a fun fight,” Font said. “He’s straightforward, he throws big right hands, big left hooks and a lot of head kicks. He’s looking for takedowns as well, as little more straightforward than what Cruz is doing, he was going to be moving around and I believe Cruz would have had better timing on his takedowns. I like the matchup but then again, all these matchups are tough. If I had to choose, it would have been him over the other monsters out there.”

Rob Font is 21-8 as a pro and coming off a decision win over Kyler Phillips. The win snapped his two-fight losing streak. Jean Matsumoto, meanwhile, is 16-0 as a pro and a perfect 2-0 in the UFC as he’s coming off a decision win over Brad Katona.