UFC Fight Night: Jake Matthews says his path to contention begins Sunday

Jake Matthews says he is just hitting his prime after a decade in the UFC ahead of his bout with Matthew Semelsberger on Sunday, and is hoping a win will start him on the path to contention.

Jake Mathews was monstered by Viney.

First Semelsberger, then the world.

Something has clicked in Jake Matthews’ brain and he’s ready to make his mark on the UFC, almost a decade after he made his debut as the organisation’s youngest contracted fighter.

The Celtic Kid from Melbourne is riding a purple patch of form and fresh off a career-defining KO on Andre Fialho that announced – or perhaps reintroduced – the 28-year-old to the UFC.

It had been more than a year since his sobering loss to Sean Brady at UFC 259 and Matthews returned to the octagon in June a completely different animal, having shed the mental baggage that had been weighing him down.

“That last loss to Sean Brady, I could feel it in the fight, I knew there was a lot more I could be doing in that fight and a lot of the input from the outside was limiting me,” Matthews told News Corp.

“I was focused too much on my opponent and what he was good at instead of dictating the fight. It’s a very defensive mindset which doesn’t work well for me – so I took the reins back.

“That was it. That fight was the straw that broke the camel’s back and I decided to take a bit more control of my training and that last fight (Fialho) was the result.”

Matthews is hoping his fight Sunday will begin his path to title contention. Picture: Sam Ruttyn

Matthews’ brutal KO on rising welterweight Fialho was a proof of concept for the Australian, who declared he had finally learned how to translate his training form to fight night.

Chief among his learnings was how to hurt people, and enjoy it.

Next up is American Matthew Semelsberger, the former college gridiron player with heavy hands and a pair of first-round knockouts to his name.

Matthews knows his opponent; knows his strengths and his weaknesses. But there’s no point asking, because that’s not the Australian’s style anymore.

“That last fight (Fialho) was the first time we’ve actually seen something close to what I’m capable of, and there's still more than that,” he said.

“This fight the goal is to go out, show another 10 per cent on top of that and each fight afterwards get better and better.

“If I perform well here … the next fight I should get a ranked opponent and continue to climb the ranks. In my mind this is my last fight, there’s no fight after this, but once this fight is finished we’ll see what we can do.”

Rusted on UFC fans may think they know Matthews’ game, given he’s a nine-year veteran at this point. But at 28 he’s only just now hitting his prime and says to his benefit are those years of experience, both wins and losses, which have steeled him for a title tilt.

Matthews has been in the UFC for a decade yet is only 28. Picture: Michael Klein.

“People forget how young I was – I was a 19-year-old kid (on debut),” he said.

“I think I’ve done pretty well considering a lot of the young kids that get in don’t seem to last as long as I have. I’ve always looked at it as a marathon, not a sprint. I’m getting to the age where I’m hoping to win a world title in the next few years.

“It was a far reach to expect to win a title at that young age. I’ve always treated it as a long career, I wanted to get the most as I could out of it, and it’s true when they say you don’t hit your prime until your late-20s.”

Should he get through the Semelsberger fight unscathed Matthews says there’s a slight chance he could yet feature on the blockbuster UFC 284 card in Perth next February, but his preference would to be in the crowd.

“I’m at the point now where the majority of my fights will be overseas,” he said.

“I would be more than happy to go to the (Perth) event and see the next generation of Aussie fighters perform and win (but) I’ve had my time. It’s their time now, I’m looking to bigger and better things and that’s climbing through the ranks.”

THE DAY JACK VINEY MONSTERED UFC STAR

Jake Matthews has always been a dreamer.

As a young boy growing up in Victoria it was posters of AFL players on his bedroom wall and grand finals on the hallowed MCG turf that got him out of bed each morning.

Now it’s the draw of a UFC world title that has the 28-year-old’s attention.

Fresh from a career-defining KO on Andre Fialho at UFC 275 in Singapore, Matthews (18-5) returns to the octagon in Las Vegas this weekend opposite American Matthew Semelsberger (10-4).

Win, and a ranked opponent awaits him next year. The road map is there for a welterweight title fight and ‘The Celtic Kid’ is in the form of his life. Those AFL dreams are long forgotten.

Jake Mathews (L) recalled the day Jake Viney (R) taught him a football lesson.

It wasn’t the day “absolute monster” Jack Viney ran rings around him in a junior grand final that turned Matthews’ head from footy to fighting, though he can look back on it now with a smile.

It was the spur of the moment decision to step into the octagon on three days’ notice to fight a man eight years his senior that sealed his future away from footy.

Before his opponent’s head had hit the canvas Matthews was dreaming of a UFC debut and barely three years later, having taken all before him in the Aussie amateur scene, it became a reality.

“At the time I still wanted to play AFL but I was a young Aussie kid who also wanted to go and have a punch-on,” Matthews told News Corp.

“I ended up winning the fight by a head kick KO and it completely changed the trajectory of what I wanted to do. As soon as I won that first fight I said I wanted to fight in the UFC. From that point it was something that almost seemed impossible to the outside eye.”

Haha, Dad pulled this photo out of a 12yr old Celtic Kid. pic.twitter.com/xuXOMVqwSk

— Jake Matthews (@JakeMatthewsUFC) December 22, 2015

“Every time I mentioned it people would say ‘that’s impossible’ or ‘that can’t be done’ … I didn’t waste any time.”

Matthews became the youngest contracted athlete in the UFC and third-youngest to win a fight when he debuted at UFC Fight Night 43 in Auckland aged 19 years and 313 days.

Almost nine years later it’s hard to believe the UFC veteran is still just 28 years old.

“I played Aussie rules for nine years which is crazy, because I’ve been in the UFC for nine years now,” Matthews said.

“I was playing in representative teams – I had a stint in the TAC Cup – and I wanted to stay fit in the off-season because things were starting to get serious, which is where I found kickboxing, which led to jujitsu, which led to MMA.”

New drill
Switch stance counter hook out of exchange. pic.twitter.com/f7GL3NaTHt

— Jake Matthews (@JakeMatthewsUFC) October 26, 2022

Matthews vividly remembers the day he was sent to play on Viney in a junior grand final, though the particulars are a bit sketchy.

“I was 5’6 or 5’7 and he’s this six-foot kid,” Matthews recalls.

So intimidating was the now-178cm Viney in that moment that he grew a few inches, apparently.

“He was an absolute monster. I don’t know why the put me there … I didn’t touch the ball the whole game.”

Now Viney is considered pound for pound one of the toughest players in the AFL and Matthews, well, he plans to stake a claim for the same title in the UFC.

The quest continues on Sunday when he tussles with Semelsberger in Vegas at UFC Fight Night: Cannonier v Strickland.

Originally published as UFC Fight Night: Jake Matthews says his path to contention begins Sunday