Off Guard: Rob Font details knee injury in last fight, hopes for 2020 return

LAS VEGAS – Rob Font suffered a knee injury that has kept him on the sidelines since his last fight.

In his UFC on ESPN 7 bout against Ricky Simon last December, Font (17-4 MMA, 7-3 UFC) tore his knee midway through the contest but still powered through to win the fight, notching a bonus in the process.

“Yeah second round, he took me down, we’re coming up in the exchange, he kind of had that triangle wrapped around my legs, his hips went down, my foot came up, tore my ACL,” Font told MMA Junkie. “Slight tears on both my meniscuses as well. It was wobbling a couple of times throughout the fight – it wasn’t Maycee Barber’s situation where it was like pain the whole time, it was just unstable. I was pretty much on skates the whole round but we figured it out, got the job done.”

Font has won three of his last four bouts, with back-to-back wins over Sergio Pettis and Simon, as he guns for the top of the bantamweight rankings. The Boston native is currently in Las Vegas rehabbing at the UFC Performance Institute, aiming to return by this year.

“That’s the plan,” he said. “I’m just trying to get through these next couple of months and then we’ll find out who exactly but I’m definitely getting back in.”