“Andre is tough,” says the 27-year-old. “He’s been very active and has done well in his past few fights. Everything about this fight is what I wanted, though. I feel at home in Singapore – the last time that I was here, I got the win. I wanted to fight a good striker here. At my core I’m a striker, and I wanted to test my striking against somebody like Andre. Everything has fallen into place.”
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Things may have worked out in the end; however, the Aussie experienced a few unexpected delays en route to what will be his first appearance in the Octagon since March 2021. For example, a scheduled bout at UFC on ESPN: Font vs Aldo was cancelled on the morning of the event due to one of his opponent’s team testing positive for Covid.
“That’s just the cancellation people know about,” reveals Matthews. “There was supposed to be a fight in October that got scrapped. There was going to be another one earlier this year that didn’t work out. And there was another in May that didn’t pan out. It’s nobody’s fault –just bad luck.”
“Even now we’re here in Singapore, I won’t be holding my breath that’s it’s going to happen until I’m locked in that cage!” he jokes.
“The Celtic Kid” knows the ups and downs of being a prize fighter, having started his career in the UFC back in 2014 at just 19 years of age. During that time, he’s seen the sport change and fighters come and go. He’s also pieced together some great victories, including winning six of his previous eight outings. But he admits it hasn’t always been easy.
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“I’ve had to learn on the job,” explains the 170-pounder, who is also an enlisted member of the Australian Army. “At 19, I wasn’t close to my peak. At 27, I still don’t think I’m there yet. Some people say I’ve done a good job, while others wonder why I haven’t won a title yet.
“The thing is, I didn’t come into the UFC as a really established fighter. Alex Volkanovski was an established fighter who was peaking when he arrived. Same with Israel Adesanya. I was a kid who had to figure a lot out against the best guys in the world.”
