Dominick Cruz's retirement forces promotion to pull a fighter from UFC 313 as Rob Font's opponent in Seattle
In lieu of Dominick Cruz sustaining an injury and then outright retiring from the sport of MMA, a combatant has been pulled from UFC 313 to now face Rob Font at UFC Seattle. Jean Matsumoto was supposed to clash with Chris Gutierrez at the next pay-per-view offering from the company but will now be throwing down a bit earlier as he steps into the cage versus Font on Feb. 22.
The newly arranged Font vs. Matsumoto matchup will be fought at a 140-pound catchweight and the overall details of this contest were first reported by MMA Junkie. It's not certain if the aforementioned Gutierrez will have a new bout structured for him and his status for the Mar. 8 Las Vegas card has some question marks around it, as of this writing.
Matsumoto boasts a spotless 16-0 record as a professional MMA fighter and is 2-0 under the UFC banner so far after vaulting to the main stage off of Dana White's Contender Series. Font has scored meaningful UFC wins over his career against Sergio Pettis, Cody Garbrandt, and Marlon Moraes to name but a few.
Check out the initial report of Matsumoto stepping into this UFC Seattle bout below:
Dominick Cruz discusses how this shoulder injury ended his legendary MMA career
Dominick Cruz has recently offered some insights into why a recurring shoulder injury has caused him to officially retire from the sport. Cruz's overall career run shows he is certainly no stranger to injuries having missed meaningful amounts of his prime from a myriad of injuries.
The 39-year-old mentioned how despite altering the intensity of his approach, Cruz's body simply did not allow him to push through the full duration of the camp and withdrew from the Rob Font fight. Here's what Dominick Cruz said on The Anik & Florian Podcast:
"I rehabbed it for six weeks straight, then went and sparred with Jeremy Stephens and a few pro boxers just to see where it [his shoulder] was really at after the rehab I had done, and I did really well. I felt really good, nothing messed with me at all. After that, I booked the fight, and they offered me Rob Font... Sorry, Rob Font as well. I respect the guy."
Check out Dominick Cruz's comments below (4:30):