JAKE Matthews doesn’t have enough fingers and toes to count the opponents that have rejected his invitation to fight in Australia.

He dangled the carrot in front of Carlos Condit, Matt Brown and Court McGee — to name a few — but the rising Melbourne welterweight couldn’t secure a bout for UFC Fight Night Adelaide on December 2.

Until now.

With 36 days to go, American Tony Martin has accepted the challenge.

“There wasn’t long left, but I always knew I’d be on the card anyway,” a relaxed Matthews said yesterday.

“So I wasn’t too stressed out. I was just waiting for someone to accept the fight.

“I asked for Carlos Condit, Matt Brown, Court McGee … there were a bunch of them.

“I couldn’t fit all the names on both hands … I honestly can’t remember how many there were.

“Every day there was someone new (that wouldn’t fight me). Maybe for my next fight I might get one of those bigger names.”

media_camera Jake Matthews works the pads with his father and trainer Mick. Picture: Tim Carrafa

In negotiations with the UFC matchmakers for several weeks, Matthews admitted it was tougher to lock down an opponent than he anticipated.

“I kept throwing names at the UFC and they kept getting knocked back,” Matthews said.

“I’m in a position where it’s hard for them to get me a fight. I’m getting up in the rankings now, so it’s hard to get a lower-ranked guy to fight me, but at the same time, the higher ranked guys don’t want to risk dropping down a few ranks and losing.

“That’s fair enough, I understand that, so I was just feeding them names and getting knocked back.

“Normally they give me a few names, but they only gave me one name this time, Tony Martin, so I assume he’s the only one who has accepted the fight.”

Matthews even considered a move to middleweight, just to secure a spot on the Adelaide card.

“That was sincere, I just want to fight,” Matthews said.

“If they gave me a middleweight, I was happy to jump in there. I walk around above middleweight, so I’d be comfortable with that, but it’s good to get a welterweight fight.

“It’s only Tony’s second fight at welterweight, so I’d say I’ll have a bit of strength and weight over him.”

media_camera Jake Matthews dominated Bojan Velickovic in Sydney. Picture: Mark Kolbe/Getty Images

A Brazilian Jiu Jitsu black belt and an accomplished grappler, the athletic Martin has won five or his last six bouts.

Matthews is also in a purple patch, having secured three-straight victories to improve his record to 13-3.

Martin has an equally impressive 13-4 win-loss ratio, with 10 of those bouts in the UFC octagon.

“He’s been working on his striking in his last few fights, he’s been working that right hand a lot and he seems to be happy to stand up for the whole fight,” Matthews said of Martin.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if we spent the entire fight on the feet, unless one of us gets hurt and there a chance for a takedown.

“He’s good with his jiu jitsu, he’s got a good kimura and he’s dangerous on the floor and I think he’s a similar body shape to Johnny Case, who he fought, and I think it will be a similar fight.”

With Martin ranked inside the top 20, Matthews knows a victory over the Boston native will propel him up the ladder.

“It’s no small feat getting into the top 20,” Matthews said.

“If I can win this fight it will jump me up a couple of ranks and I’ll probably get a fight against another top 20 guy, maybe someone in the top 15.”

Originally published as Matthews, Martin to locks horns in Adelaide