Matt Schnell wasn’t sure whether or not he’d get signed to the UFC after a stint on this past summer’s The Ultimate Fighter 24 (TUF 24), which declared flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson’s next opponent. Schnell went in hoping to earn a crack at “Mighty Mouse,” but was eliminated in the quarterfinals by Tim Elliott, who would go on to win the entire tournament.
Although all 16 contestants on TUF 24 were 125-pound champions from regional organizations, none of them — except for the winner — were guaranteed spots on the UFC roster after they finished taping the show.
Schnell doesn’t think that stepping up on short notice would have been his only path to the Octagon, but capitalized on an opportunity presented to him to solidify a contract with the organization.
“I try to make an impact doing anything,” Schnell told BloodyElbow.com. “When I went on The Ultimate Fighter, I didn’t win and I didn’t perform to the best of my ability, but I still left my mark, and these guys knew I had value coming out of it. We heard that the day the show wrapped, like, ‘Look, Danger, you got a good shot, buddy. Not all these guys are gonna get a chance; some of them will get a shot maybe down the road a little bit after a couple fights. But we think that you did well, and we like you.’ So we had an idea that I was in the mix, for sure.
“I believe I’m genuine. I showed up to win that tournament, and even after I lost, I stayed training, and I think I showed that I was committed and that I was truly a guy that deserved to be in the UFC.”
Schnell isn’t trying to hide any sense of nervousness going into his debut in the organization at TUF 24 Finale, which takes place live from Las Vegas on Saturday evening. In fact, he admitted that he’s the most nervous he’s ever been ahead of a mixed martial arts bout. And fighting a top prospect — Rob Font — in a heavier division just adds to the already-present jitters.
“It’s certainly been nerve-wracking,” he said. “We would all like a training camp, and fighting on six, seven day’s notice is not exactly ideal. I’ve never taken a short notice fight my whole career. Fight week’s been crazy; it’s been up and down, emotionally. I know that the UFC jitters are real; I’ve felt them since being here. I’ve never been this nervous before a fight.
“But I’ve put in a seven-year training camp getting ready for this thing. Ever since I started doing martial arts, this is where I’ve wanted to be. You take the shots that you can get. Opportunity looks a lot like hard work, I believe. I’ve been putting in the work. I’m ready to go. I’m gonna go out there and give it hell, I can promise you that. No matter how it turns out, no matter what happens, I’m going in there to win. But you will never hear me make excuses. I won’t make some post about, ‘Oh, this was on seven days.’ I don’t care. I’m a fighter, and I like my chance in a fist-fight against anybody at any given time.”
All of that said, Schnell doesn’t expect being under the bright lights for the first time to play a big part in his fight against Font.
“I’ve fought big fights before, I’ve been on The Ultimate Fighter,” he said. “I can tell you this: in all of the fights that I’ve been extremely nervous for, I’ve always performed extremely well. What brings the best out of you better than when you feel like you have nothing to lose? I’m just gonna go out there, let it rip, and pick up the pieces after they fall.”
Schnell doesn’t think he has anything to lose in his upcoming debut because of the circumstances surrounding the bout (short notice, heavier weight division). He said that he “can’t think” about the future should he lose, because, if he did, that would lower his chances of pulling off the win.
“I can’t think about what’s next or if I lose this fight, because you’ll create a self-fulfilling prophecy,” he said. “I do feel like I have nothing to lose. Rob Font’s gotta go out there and finish me in a minute; I’m a weight class below him, I took it on seven day’s notice. This is what he’s thinking: ‘I gotta go out there and finish this guy quick, or I didn’t perform well.’ Whereas me, I’m the underdog, nobody’s expecting much from me, they definitely don’t expect me to win. So I just gotta go out there and fight, worry about my performance, and the rest will take care of itself.”