Matt Dixon enlisted some A-list help prior to his debut on Dana White's Tuesday Night Contender Series.
Dixon (9-0) caught up with Fightful ahead of his Contender Series bout against Orion Cosce (6-0) on August 18. The lauded welterweight prospect touched on his training sessions with Mark Munoz, as well as the text he received from UFC matchmaker Sean Shelby.
"Working with Mark Munoz was great. The guy I watched growing up. I was a big fan of his growing up. He was the 'Filipino Wrecking Machine' back in the day. I never knew if I was going to train with him. My coach happened to know him and know him pretty well," Dixon shared. "Working with him, he was able to share a lot of knowledge and experience and some of the wisdom he got through all that experience."
Cosce has never gone the distance professionally and Dixon believes that will serve as a big advantage for "Magic".
"I feel like it gives me a big advantage. That experience I really wouldn't trade for anything. Going through those fights where I had adversity, and going through fights where I thought the guy was finished and he came back out of nowhere like a zombie. Those types of things are what you build and grow off of and learn. I've been in those fights. I've had five-round fights. I don't know how very many prospects that have had those," he shared. "Those are things that have molded me into the MMA fighter that I am today."
Dixon, 24, thought someone was pulling his leg when he got a text message from a number claiming to belong to UFC matchmaker Shelby.
"It was kind of a crazy situation," he chuckled. "I got the text message and, honestly, I thought this may be fake. I've never had any talks with him in person or over the phone. I was really surprised by that. Whenever he sent that text message, I immediately sent it to my manager and he told me it was legit."
Fightful will have live coverage of Tuesday's episode of Contender Series right here.
