Rob Font didn’t expect to get Marlon Vera as his next opponent.
Font Wanted Cory Sandhagen
After Font was defeated by former featherweight champion Jose Aldo last December, everyone was expecting his next matchup to be against former title challenger and No. 4 ranked Cory Sandhagen. Instead, the Boston fighter will headline his third straight event against ‘Chito’ Vera next month.
Vera was a name that he wasn’t expecting.
“I figured [the Sandhagen fight] was what we were going for. Chito was no where near my radar, so I definitely didn’t think this fight was going to play out, but you know how it is,” Font told MiddleEasy in an exclusive interview. “Sandhagen just made sense.”
Font likes O’Malley
Below Font in the rankings lays Dominick Cruz, who he was also interested in. Below Cruz is Sean O’Malley, who currently sits at No. 12. ‘Suga’ has been calling out Font for a hot minute. While it doesn’t make a whole of sense, Font would have entertained a fight with O’Malley because it would have got him a lot of followers on Instagram.
“No, [he didn’t think of O’Malley] but that’s one of those fights that you do for the gram,” Font continued. “You go out there put him away and you get a million followers, right? So, yeah I would have definitely entertained it if I had to sit out for a while, but in my mind, I was trying to get the guy in front of me.”
Font does think O’Malley is a good fight, unlike some of the chatter that is going on out in the MMA sphere.
“Yeah I think he is legit. I can see the skill in there. I can see what he’s doing, I see the setups, the patience in some of his fights. The numbers, especially the last fight with Kris [Moutinho], it is there,” Font said. “Obviously, he has got to step up and fight higher competition, but he will eventually and I’m excited to see how it plays out. He’s doing his thing. We’ll see.”
If Font and O’Malley get matched up eventually, Font simply loves the fight.
“I love that fight, man. I love it. It would be a fun one for maybe about two rounds and after that, I would take over that fight for sure,” Font ended.
You can watch the full interview below: