Athletes
Jake Matthews: Big Crowd Equals Big Performance
Aussie Welterweight Says Fighting In Front Of Big Crowds Brings The Best Out Of Him, And He's Hoping UFC 302 Will Bring More Of The Same
Jack Matthews is back on the road again, with the Australian welterweight looking forward to the challenge of competing in front of a big crowd, in a big arena, once again.
Matthews has made the long flight from Australia to New Jersey for UFC 302 and, despite having to travel a few additional hours to reach the East Coast compared to his previous West Coast assignments, he's nicely acclimated and ready to deliver on fight night.
"Coming to the East Coast, it's a long trip from Australia," he explained.
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"It's another five hours on top of going to Vegas or LA. So it was a long trip. But we're here, we've got adjusted, we came a little bit early to make sure we're settled in. Now it's all the formalities now, and then we get to have fun."
For Matthews, "fun" involves getting in a cage and having a fist fight with another man. It's a job that only a very small percentage of people are appropriately wired for, and Matthews certainly fits that description.
The Aussie has been a mainstay of the UFC since he made his Octagon debut as a teenager back in June 2014. Now he's in his 10th year as a UFC fighter, and the days of him fighting almost exclusively on home soil in Australia are now a thing of the past, as he has gone international in a bid to further his career prospects.
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"The UFC did say a long time ago that if you want to climb the ranks and get those bigger fights, you do have to travel," he explained.
"I think I had my first six or seven fights in Australia, and there's heaps of Aussie fighters now, so there's no need for me to fill the cards there.
"So yeah, one of the perks is being able to see the world, and we've never been to the East Coast before, ever. So it's the first time for us, and it's definitely different."
Since that debut victory – a third-round triangle choke submission of Dashon Johnson – we've watched Matthews grow up inside the Octagon. Now aged 29, "The Celtic Kid" has become a man, and he's proud of what he's been able to achieve in his career thus far.
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"This fight, especially, finally, is the first time we've actually been able to say, I've actually done well, I'm actually proud of myself," he admitted.
"No matter what, whatever I achieve from now on, I actually have done pretty well for a kid from the northern suburbs of Melbourne. I was supposed to be like a PE teacher or electrician or something. I wasn't supposed to be flying around the world fighting in the biggest promotion in the world. So I've done well.
"And I've come to accept that this is what I'm supposed to do. I was put on this Earth to be a fighter, and I've really fallen in love with fighting and, as bad as it sounds, just punching people and bashing someone. That's the goal in each fight. And If I go out and achieve that, then I'll win the fight."
Matthews' last outing saw him lose a decision to rising undefeated prospect Michael Morales at UFC Vegas 82. It marked an unwanted hat trick of losses at the UFC APEX, where he has gone 0-3 so far in his career. Matthews admitted that, for whatever reason, he just hasn't been able to produce his best performances at the UFC's Las Vegas facility, and said that he's relishing the opportunity to return to a big arena, where the buzz of a live crowd often brings the best out of him on fight night.
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"It's not something I consciously think about, but I've lost most of my fights at the APEX," he noted.
"I think fighting at the end of the year, I start to settle down like, 'It's at the end of the year, you can relax.' And it's obviously not good going into a fight. So the end of the year in the APEX hasn't worked out for us. But mid-year, especially June, especially in a new city we haven't been before, on a pay-per-view card, I've done pretty well.
"I'm not superstitious, but I think those things definitely add up. Subconsciously, I think the crowd does help you get amped up. It's nothing I've thought about before, but obviously, it does make a difference."
His next assignment comes this weekend at UFC 302 in Newark, New Jersey, where he takes on Phil Rowe in a welterweight preliminary card matchup at Prudential Center. It's a test he's looking forward to, against a fighter who is equally happy to compete in the standup or on the mat.
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"I think he's happy to go anywhere (in the fight)," he said.
"He obviously takes part in his jiu-jitsu matches outside of the UFC, so he's obviously confident in his grappling, as am I, even though a lot of his wins have been on the feet – he seems to be happy standing up.
"So yeah, I think this fight will be a fun fight. It's one of those ones where we're both happy to fight wherever the fight takes us. So there's no real set gameplan. It's sort of feel out where he feels comfortable, and then exploit where he wants to avoid."
It's also a fight that could edge him towards ranked status in the UFC's 170-pound division, with Matthews viewing longtime welterweight contender Neil Magny as the measuring stick for himself, and his current and recent opponents.
"He had his fight with Neil Magny, and went the distance. So, if I can outperform Neil, in that sense, I think I'd definitely be (close). And then Morales and Neil are going to fight, as well, so we'll see how Neil goes then, and hopefully I can get the win here, and potentially go and fight someone like Neil. And that's getting right into the rankings."
Matthews has been close to breaking into the Top 15 before, but whenever he's on the brink of ranked recognition, he has hit a road block. Now a little bit older, and a little bit wiser, he's taking a more considered approach to his career to ensure that the conditions are conducive to him delivering his best on fight night.
"I've always teetered right on the edge (of contendership). Unfortunately, those fights have always been in the APEX at the end of the year. So yeah, I'm just playing a little bit smarter," he said.
"A lot of these big-name fighters, if they don't want to fight in a certain place, they won't fight there. If they don't want to fight at a certain time of the year, they don't fight there.
"I've always been the type of guy where the UFC says, 'You're gonna fight here and this guy,' and we take the fight. But now, this is our livelihood, we want to stay in the UFC for as long as we can, so you do have to be a little bit methodical. And we're going to start doing that now."
UFC 302: Makhachev vs Poirier took place live from Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey on June 1, 2024. See the Final Prelim and Main Card Results, Official Scorecards and Who Won Bonuses, and relive the action on UFC Fight Pass!
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