“Give me a couple more years, I really believe I’m going to get that belt.” — Rob Font
Rob Font (11–1) — the twenty-eight year old Ultimate Fighting Championship Bantamweight fighting out of Boston, Massachusetts — is destined for greatness. Training out of famed Sityodtong gym in Somerville, Massachusetts, Font is set to make his hometown debut at UFC Fight Night: Dillashaw vs. Cruz on January 17th, 2016 at the TD Garden in Boston, Massachusetts.
Originally scheduled to face Patrick Williams (8–4), Font (11–1) now faces UFC rookie Joey Gomez (6–0) on the UFC Fight Pass Early Prelims portion of the second UFC card of 2016.
Since making his professional MMA debut in December 2011, Font has turned heads with his confidence and pure ability to string together multiple martial arts with ease. His sole professional loss came in his second fight — a unanimous decision to Bellator Season 10 Featherweight Finalist and former Titan FC Featherweight champion Desmond Green (15–5) in April 2012.
In August 2013 and his eighth professional fight, Font won the vacant CES Featherweight Championship against Chris Foster (8–4) — a card which featured Sityodtong teammate Dinis Paiva, Jr. (7–6) as well as fellow UFC Fight Night: Dillashaw vs. Cruz competitor and Boston, Massachusetts native Charles Rosa (10–2).
In July 2014, Font made his UFC debut on the UFC 175: Weidman vs. Machida card and defeated veteran George Roop (15–12) with a knockout punch in the very first round — his tenth win in a row and was awarded Performance of the Night for his debut.
In August 2014, Font was injured and forced to withdraw from his scheduled second UFC fight: a match-up with Chris Beal (10–2) on the UFC Fight Night: Jacaré vs. Mousasi card in September 2014. Beal — who made his own UFC debut with a knockout win over Patrick Williams in April 2014 — instead went on to defeat current Sityodtong teammate Tateki Matsuda (11–7).
Healed and hungry, Font will now face Gomez on the third-ever UFC card to be held in Boston, Massachusetts. Mark DellaGrotte — Muay Thai legend and Owner / Head Coach at Sityodtong — has the twenty-eight year-old Font primed for another highlight-reel victory and has assisted Font in his dynamism.
Before a recent Sityodtong class, Font took the time to speak about his love for boxing, his teammates and his expectations for the UFC Fight Night: Dillashaw vs. Cruz card in Boston, Massachusetts on January 17th, 2016.
ROB FONT
- 11–1 professional mixed martial artist (Bantamweight)
- 3–1 amateur mixed martial artist (Bantamweight)
- AFO Bantamweight Amateur Champion (2011)
- Cage Titans Bantamweight Amateur Champion (2011)
- CES Bantamweight Champion (August 2013)
- Purple Belt — Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu
- White Monkol — Muay Thai
- Performance of the Night — UFC 175 (July 2014)
ON GOING ALL IN
I definitely feel like it’s a lot easier. I think you still get it done, as far as working a part-time job or having kids and stuff like. You can still get it done. It’s going to take a lot more work. But I do believe you still get it done.
But I think if you really want to commit to anything — whether it’s basketball, baseball, whatever, fighting — you got to go all the way in. It has to be a passion; you have to put everything into it to be the best at that particular thing.
With that being said, I still think you can still do it without putting it all in and going half-in — but you just got to be smart about it. You got to use your time wisely and all that.
For me, it worked out better that I went all the way in, because I just feel like I wouldn’t be able to work a job and do this at the same time. So I think it worked out the best in the end that I went all the way in.
ON REACHING POTENTIAL
I feel like I’m young as far as my fighting age. I didn’t grow up wrestling, so I didn’t take those bumps and bruises coming as a wrestler. I didn’t grow up boxing, so I haven’t taken those hits.
We train real smart up here; we’re not in there brawling every day as far as sprawling. I’m not that young — I’m twenty-eight — so I’m getting there. I feel like I’m about to hit my peak as far as fighting-age. Some people say thirty’s kind of tough for boxing. But I think MMA, you got guys like Randy Couture, Urijah Faber that are still doing their thing. Not Randy anymore, but guys like Faber still doing his thing at that age, so I feel like I’m right there.
Give me a couple more years, I really believe I’m going to get that belt.
ON BOXING
I love boxing. I’m not going to lie and say I’m a lifelong boxing fan like most people say. I didn’t start watching boxing until maybe eighth grade or something like that. I was kind of watching it here and there when I was younger. When I got a little bit more into it, then I started doing the research on all the older guys — the legends. The Bernard Hopkins’, the Roy Jones’.
I love it, man. I appreciate how hard it is to get to a certain level like a Mayweather or Triple G, who’s killing everybody right now. Canelo, guys like that. I appreciate and understand how hard that is, because I’ve sparred with boxers before and they’re on a different level. I definitely love boxing.
I’m Puerto Rican, so they love Miguel Cotto, Trinidad — all those guys.
I definitely love to train boxing. I like the fact that they’re taught to hit and not get hit. Sometimes you get into these Thai fights where it’s just back-and-forth: “I kick you, you kick me. I kick you, you kick me.”
I’m not trying to get hit. I’m trying to hit you as much as possible, make you miss and then hit you again.
So I do appreciate that part of it. Huge boxing fan. I do a lot of boxing training at least twice a week — just pure boxing training and I love it.
ON ADMIRED COMBAT ATHLETES
For boxing: I like Miguel Cotto’s style. His hands are always high. He has a real disciplined style; not too flashy. Hands are not necessarily down; great footwork. He makes every single punch count.
As far as an overall MMA guy: I have to go with the legend Sakuraba. I have to. He does it all from striking to submissions and wrestling. I have to try to mimic him as much as possible.
Thai guys: it’s funny, I train at a Thai school but I’m not the biggest Thai fan. I’m not saying I don’t like it, but I don’t follow it as much. I do like the Dutch style, the K-1 type. Obviously I love Lion Fight’s, too; I was actually at a couple fights at Foxwoods not too long ago. I do like it, I just don’t like how up and straightforward they are. I guess because it doesn’t fit my style of fighting. But I do like guys like Tyrone Spong, guys from Amsterdam and the Netherlands. Overeem, guys like that. As far as kickboxing, I definitely like that.
Any chance I get to watch Thai Kwon Do tournaments and stuff like, but mainly I try to stick to the MMA fights. Like I said, I watch a lot of Sakuraba fights; guys like that. And then obviously all the fights that come up now.
ON OPPOSITION
I get in that zone where it doesn’t matter what you’re going to do — I’m going to adapt and figure out a way to counter it or beat it or beat you to the punch. When I first started, I used to try to make everything perfect. Like come with a game plan — and it just never worked out that way.
So I just go in there, I adapt to the situation; just react to whatever’s thrown at me, or force what I want on him.
Not necessarily force, but beat him to the punch. ‘Lead the dance’ so to say. I lead how the fight’s going to end up. Even if that’s me backing up — I’m drawing you in.
I fight well backing up, which is kind of weird. Mark was telling me it’s kind of hard to teach a guy how to fight backing up. I actually had to really work on in practice fighting forward — chasing guys down, cutting them off — because I do so well backing up. I have not necessarily bad habits, but I would always do it. So when it was time for me to cut the guy off or force the fight, it would kind of slow down a little bit.
So that’s what we’ve been working on a lot lately: kind of just cutting the cage off and forcing the fight a little more as far as me going forward. But I feel like I’m so well-rounded, I could do it all as far as mixing in my takedowns and submissions and boxing; kickboxing, elbows.
I feel like we do it all over here.
ON FIGHTER IQ
I feel like when I’m in there, I see it in steps. I feel like I’m ahead of most guys — at least two steps ahead. I can see what they’re about to do, like little things: the way their shoulder moves before their punch. Or we know certain things, like for the Abdullah fight: on the ground, I knew he had to get the underhook to get up. OK cool, get the underhook: that’s when I’m going to shoot my Darce. Once you dig it — I’m shooting underneath.
I feel like a fighter’s IQ is huge, and I feel like I’m up there with a lot of these guys. I feel like I see and I’m thinking; obviously I’m reacting, but I’m thinking, as well. I feel like the mix of both of those help me out a lot when I’m in there.
I feel like naturally I’m going to react; like something happens, I’m going to naturally react. Somebody starts shooting or whatever, I’m just naturally going to react. But then I feel like I can slow it down, “You guys go this way; we’re going to go downstairs and exit out this way.”
So I feel like that helps out a lot; I think it’s more muscle-memory plus being cool and calm. Just realizing: “OK, this is what we got. These are our options” and kind of going through the process: I go here, triangle, arm bar, guillotine. I’m just going to set him up and whatever he gives me, I take.
I feel like I put a lot of guys in positions to where either you’re going to give me this or that: you pick your poison.
ON GETTING CALL TO UFC
The whole time was UFC. Always wanted to fight in the UFC, and why not? Nobody wants to play for the NBA D-League. You want to play for the Celtics or whatever.
Obviously the local scene was awesome, but it’s local. I can’t travel; first time going to Vegas, I’m fighting in Vegas. I can’t travel in the local scene.
But yeah, it’s the UFC: who doesn’t want to fight for the biggest promotion out there?
I get to travel and meet new people, have fun and get to do it on live TV so definitely there’s no other promotion I’d rather fight for at all. It just doesn’t make sense to me. I can’t wrap my head around why anybody would want to fight for anybody else. So it’s awesome.
Then when I got the call, it was pretty much a dream come true. I knew eventually it could happen, I just didn’t know when. Mark used to always tell me, “Just keep your head down, keep training; it’ll happen. Don’t even worry about when it happens, but it’ll happen.” I believed him and he believed in me.
He was always pushing my name: “Hey — check my guy out, check my guy out, check my guy out.” And then after that last CES fight, it happened.
And I was getting ready for a fight for CES — their first AXS TV card. I was supposed to Main Event that one. But that was the whole goal: for CES to get me to the UFC, so it wasn’t like a jerk move. They understand; they know what’s going on.
ON UFC DEBUT
I thought that was the perfect match-up for me. My manager thought it was the perfect match-up. It’s kind of hard: I felt like I cheated on the test because I had the answers for the test already.
There’s a blueprint out there already, if you watch Cub Swanson, Mark Hominick: it’s the same shot. I didn’t do anything different that these guys didn’t do. It was the same exact shot, and he does it all the time. Roop never learns; he just doesn’t learn. Like, why are you still pulling out like that? So we knew if he pulled out like that, it’s simple — just overhand right.
And that’s what we did.
We practiced, practiced, practiced. And then I set him up as far as I could. I kind of brought him this way and then I brought him back and then jumped on the right hand. But it was like, “OK, this is what we got to hit him with.” And it happened.
It’s kind of like you’re not surprised when you get an A if you had the answers already.
I don’t want to sound cocky but it’s kind of true; you’re not like, “Oooh! I can’t believe I did that!” You’re like, “Well… I had the answers!” Like I knew exactly how to beat him, we just had to make sure that I didn’t mess up; I didn’t get taken down on the cage or get hit with a big head kick or whatever.
So it was kind of like it was great, but I also know what I beat. Roop’s kind of on his way out; he has no chin, he’s been hit a lot. So it’s kind of easy to put a guy like that away.
I just felt like it was just another day in the gym.
I felt like it was today; like when I was out there, I really was more nervous that I wasn’t nervous. Like, “What’s going on — this doesn’t feel right.” The whole time — from the Tuesday when I got there to walking out. They’re like, “You ready?” and I was like, “Yeah, I’m good.” Like, ok: just another day at the gym.
People say it all the time, but it really is. Walked out, and it wasn’t too packed but it was packed enough. I’m sitting there like, “Hmm… I’m good.” The canvas felt amazing, the lights definitely felt brighter but it wasn’t nothing. Like, “What the… Am I being overconfident? Am I cocky right now? What’s going on?”
Once the bell rung, I was like, “Oh, this is easy!” Not necessarily easy, but it doesn’t feel like they build it up to be: “The UFC debut!” It doesn’t feel that way. Like, “They lied to me! This is bullshit! How are you going to lie to me? Come on, man!”
But after I hit him it was like, “Alright, cool. Let’s get to the next one.” My mindset was like I want to get another fight before I even leave here. Obviously didn’t happen that way, but felt confident. Can’t wait to get back in there.
ON FIGHTING IN BOSTON
I think it’s huge. I love how passionate the Boston fans are. It was funny, we were talking about it the other day: I’m from Tampa and the Buccaneers suck every year. And it’s horrible; I don’t think they’re even .500 this year. Winston’s doing his thing, but… So I’m used to the teams always losing. The Rays didn’t get too good until maybe a couple years back.
But you got the Red Sox, the Bruins. And I was saying the Boston fans are spoiled; like the Patriots lost two games and they’re like, “Oh my God! What the hell?!” Everybody’s going crazy, everybody’s going nuts! Especially after the first one. And they’re spoiled, but they’re so passionate. They’re good at what they do.
And I know the Boston fans, it could go either way: it could be great or it could be bad. Because they’re going to either boo you or really get behind you. So I’m real excited to fight in Boston; the TD Garden is literally ten-fifteen minutes down the road, so I feel like I’m fighting at home.
I’ve been here for a while, so I feel like I’m a Boston guy. I came up in MMA in Massachusetts so hopefully I can get the fans behind me and be up there with the Lauzon’s and the Florian’s and those guys like that.
I love the support that the Boston fans give not just me, but their teams and their guys anyways.
The Mickey Ward’s and stuff like that. People still talk about those guys to this day, and those fights were a long time ago. Like ‘97, those Gatti fights? And they still talk about it.
I can’t wait to get out there, and hopefully they can get behind me like that.
ON SITYODTONG
Real close group. We’re always busting each other’s balls, but it’s all in good fun. It’s awesome.
We have a small gym, a small team — but we do everything right. If we got to bring in wrestlers — we bring in wrestlers. If we got to bring in boxers, we’ll bring them all in.
The best thing about Boston is it’s a boxing town; they’re real big on boxing. So there’s a couple gyms that come out and help us out.
But as far as the team, we’re always out together, hanging out together. Probably go watch the fights together this weekend — all kinds of great stuff. But it feels great to be part of a team. Yeah, I fight by myself but it feels like when you’re younger, you’re on the baseball team. Like, “Saturday, I get to hang out with my team; going to go get some pizza after the game.”
Whatever that feeling is — that camaraderie is — it’s awesome, and we have that here. We’re real close.
Obviously we bitch and moan like everybody else. But at the end of the day, I think the best thing about this is: say you guys have a problem, you guys can literally go in the cage right now and work it out. That’s what we do all the time. Like, “I feel like you shouldn’t have said this” and then it’s like, “Well, alright. Come on, let’s go” and after that, we’re sitting there drinking a beer afterwords like, “You caught me!”
So I think what we do is… kind of fucked up — always beating each other up — but it’s fun.
ON STAYING ACTIVE
I would love to stay active. Obviously for the money; I’m not going to lie: I’m a prizefighter. I’m not going to act like this is not for the money. Obviously it’s definitely for a passion, but I realize I can make money doing this; I was like, “Why the hell not?” So that will always help.
Staying active will keep my name out there, so outside-of-the-cage opportunities will definitely come up. And just I don’t want to sit out for six months — who the hell wants to do that? Just staying active, just having fun, not getting bored. And staying in the gym is the best feeling.
In 2013 I fought I think four or five times like back-to-back. That’s how I want to do it like Cerrone does it. I think one year he fought six times — that’s just amazing. You’re staying active, your name’s always constantly out there. You’re making money doing what you want to do. Why not?
I think guys want to try to make things perfect: “I want to get in there, I’m going to do this, do that.” But no, just go out there and fight. Constantly train year-round; there’s no off-season. People say ‘camps’ or, “I don’t have a camp” — but we really don’t.
We train all the time — which could be bad, I guess. You’re not giving yourself a break. We’re not beating each other up, but could it be better for my joints and stuff like that? Take a couple days off? Yeah, but then what am I going to do? Then I’m only going to get fat and be drinking, and nothing’s going to happen.
So I might as well be in the gym.
I definitely want to stay busy, but I don’t want to shoot myself in the foot like I did last year: try to stay busy and then get injured. But definitely want to stay busy and I look up to Cerrone for that. There’s nobody in the division — not even in boxing — that does what he does. He fights like a legit Thai guy — he fights back-to-back.
And that’s what those kids do: they fight for money. They fight for survival. Those guys grew up like that out there in Thailand. So he really embraces that Thai style, and I look up to him for that.
ON LOYALTY
It’s huge. It’s the biggest thing out there: your word is your bond. If you can’t keep your word or stay loyal to the guys you came up with then what the hell, you know?
My girl trusted in me; she said, “Listen, I feel like you can do this.” And it was just off of me telling her — I could’ve been lying to her the whole time. I could’ve been like… She doesn’t know. She’s not at the gym seeing if I’m good or not. She doesn’t know. But she’s like, “I trust you.”
It was more like, “I think I can do this.” Then it was like, “No, I know I can do this.” Because when I got started, I was looking at some of these guys like, “What the fuck is that?” I used to slap-box a lot and play around as a kid, but I started looking around at some of these fighters like, “That was horrible.”
Obviously I knew I had to get in shape — they were only going to beat me because I was out-of-shape. I didn’t know too much on the ground yet, but I was like, “No, man. I can’t believe he’s a professional fighter. Like, he’s a professional fighter?”
Like I said, watching boxers and how crisp they were and then, “That guy right there is a professional? You got to be kidding me. I can do this; I know it.” That was kind of what happened.
I would see these guys and I was like, “Nah. Once I get in shape, once I get this little fat off me — I know I can hang with these guys.” And it was a belief in me, and confidence in knowing my team and trusting them; being loyal to them. I knew this would eventually happen. So loyalty’s huge to me.
I think it’s even bigger with Mark. I think some of that rubs off on me, because I’m pretty sure some of these companies could be paying him a lot more money. But he’s been with RevGear or Monster for the longest, and it’s just loyalty. They have a great relationship and they keep it going with it.
ON LEARNING
I’m trying to learn as much as possible, but in the best way. It’s kind of like when people do those seminars here and there: that’s cool and all that, but I’m going to pay the extra money to then have you just one-on-one. Like, show me how to do this; let me feel it. Feel me doing it and let me know if it’s right. And I feel like I got better faster that way.
Like I said: I have all day to train. I don’t do anything else but train. By pure numbers, I’m going to be better than you anyway. Like I said, it can be done, but I’d rather do it this way.
When you’re at work doing whatever you’re doing, while you’re at lunch — I already did a thousand reps on this double-leg. I’m going home while you’re getting out of the gym; when you’re in traffic, I’m at home sleeping, recovering to get back to the gym at night.
Having that natural talent helps, too. Like some guys are too technical; some guys just don’t have that fight in them. They don’t understand how to fight; they understand how to compete. They can go in there and compete with you, but they’re not fighting. And there’s a difference. You’ll see it in some guys; there’s a difference.
I call it the “fuck it” attitude: like, “Fuck it, I’m going to knock you out.” That’s an attitude; it’s not necessarily a technique. It’s an attitude.
Mark can take a guy and show him how to beat you as far as points. But will he finish you? Will it be exciting? Can he show you how to knock someone out, though? Can he show you how to submit a guy?
Yeah, he can show it to you but it’s going to be up to you to actually do it. It takes a lot, and most guys can’t do that. I think I’m finding the mixture of competing — when to compete, when not to compete — and fighting, and it’s working out.
THANK YOU
Thank you to all my teammates; everybody that supports me from Florida to Boston. Huge shout-out to RevGear. My man Tony from PropA Entertainment. Everybody that supports me — I just want to say thank you.
Follow me on Twitter at @RobSFont, Instagram at @RobFont and Facebook at Rob Font. I just want to say thank you and hopefully I can get those Boston people behind me. I love it out here in Boston and definitely want to get them on my team.
Written By: Matteo Urella / January 2016
Original Photography By: Nick Cosky
- Portions of the interview were removed after Gomez replaced Williams
- Special appreciation for Rob Font, Kru Mark DellaGrotte, Sityodtong USA and the entire Sityodtong USA team
- Special appreciation for Nick Cosky and his brilliant photography
- Portions of the interview first published by Boxeo Mundial (December 2015)
- Special appreciation for José Martinó and Boxeo Mundial
