Rob Font Hopes to Welcome Deiveson Figueiredo to Bantamweight Division

Rob Font entered a firefight with Adrian Yanez at UFC 287, and after a little less than three minutes, emerged with an enthralling technical knockout victory.

“I don’t know how not to get into something like that,” Font admitted at Saturday’s post-fight press conference. “I believe he’s the same way. I like to say I want to stay calm, it just never happens. It felt good to be back. Big ‘W,’ just all smiles right now.”

Font entered the matchup with Yanez on the heels of back-to-back losses to Marlon Vera and Jose Aldo. To maintain his footing at bantamweight, he had to hold off a surging contender who was previously unbeaten in five UFC appearances.

“Obviously losing to Chito and Aldo sucked,” Font said. “I needed to bounce back for myself, for my team, for my family. To go out and do it on a big pay-per-view against a dangerous guy like Adrian, I’m all smiles. I can’t stop cheesing.”

More than anything, Font needed to prove to himself that he was still the same competitor who emerged as a contender during a four-bout winning streak from 2018 to 2021 that included triumphs over the likes of Sergio Pettis, Marlon Moraes and Cody Garbrandt.

“I think I had something to prove to myself,” Font said. “Obviously I needed that for myself. I needed to remind myself that I’m still here. I’m still that guy. If I get going on anybody, that’s exactly what’s going to happen to everybody.”

For an encore, Font has designs on welcoming Deiveson Figueiredo to the bantamweight division. The former flyweight king is expected to move to 135 pounds on the heels of his loss to Brandon Moreno at UFC 283 in January.

“I would love to do ‘Figgy’ vs. Font, man. [Figueiredo], I’d love to introduce him to the 135 division,” Font said “I think that’d be a fun fight. I think I like fighting big names. I definitely don’t want to fight backward, but I think me and him could definitely be a great fight.

“He’s a former champ. He’s exciting. I know he’s going to talk a lot of s—t. I think it’d be a great, entertaining type of fight, and I think I need another big name like that.”