Lightweight champ Robert Watley says career hangs in balance at CFFC 128: 'All the marbles are in this one'
After defying the odds in remarkable comeback victory, 'Contact' driven to fulfill further dreams.
CFFC lightweight champion Robert Watley knows his journey is unique. Choosing the life of a professional fighter is rare enough, but battling through addiction and a near-death experience before returning to the cage after nearly four years away – at 34 years of age, no less – well that's just absolutely inconceivable.
Yet that's exactly what "Contact" did, taking a hard-fought majority decision win over then-champ Cedric Gunnison at July's CFFC 122 to claim the lightweight title.
"It was probably the greatest undertaking of my life," Watley said. "You know, a lot of people don't make it out of what I'd found my way into, and to make it out and a year later, to step back against a great opponent, a game opponent, and to fight for a championship belt?
"It was funny. I got back to my hotel and I looked over at my coach and I was like, 'Dude, that was nuts.' For me to just decide, you know what? I've been out for four years. I think I'm going to start trying this at this level again. I was like, 'I think I'm a little crazy.'
"You know, sometimes you've got to put everything on red or put everything on black, and that's what I did, and, you know, we came out big."
But for Watley, just returning to active competition wasn't enough, even if it did include a CFFC title. "Contact" still has plans of competing on the sport's highest stage following a brief stop in the PFL in 2018. However, as a husband and a father, he knows he's chasing a dream that's not guaranteed, so there's little time to waste in achieving his ultimate goal.
Fortunately, his family is in firm support of his ambitions, and Watley simply wants to reward them for that faith.
"It was really cool because one, my son, he got to see me," Watley said. "My oldest, he got to see me, and my wife said for him to see his dad persevering, she said it was just like a moment in time that is just so precious for her, so that was really cool, and then basically, I'm fighting on a per-fight deal with my wife. Like, if I keep winning, I can keep doing this, but, you know, if I lose, then it's time to move on and figure something else out, so this basically was an affirmation that, 'Hey, we can still do this. We can still do this at a pretty high level. This might still be something that we can all get behind.'
"I think leading into this next fight, where it's my last fight on my contract, I'm 34 years old. I'm an old man. Basically, this is it. All the marbles are in this one. I was talking to someone. I said, 'If I come out and I fight a disappointing or a lackluster, even if I get a victory, it's just as bad as a loss in my position.' So yeah. So I have to come out, I have to be impressive. I have to be devastating."
Watley (13-3) returns to the cage on Friday, December 15, when he puts his title on the line against Armando Gjetja (8-3) in the main event of CFFC 128, which streams live on UFC FIGHT PASS from New Jersey's Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Atlantic City. The challenger carries a six-fight winning streak into the contest, but Watley said even that doesn't tell the full story of what his opponent brings to the table.
"It's a six-fight winning streak, but he didn't lose that fight – he's on a seven-fight winning streak, so I'll give him that seven-fight winning streak," Watley said. "He's busy. He fights often, and he's a tall southpaw. Those are all problems. Those are all big problems that if I don't address and if I don't prepare myself accordingly, he could be the CFFC champion, so I'm really excited.
"I always love to face bigger opponents for some reason. I'm weird like that. It's near his hometown, so his people are going to be there. I've just kind of made my career off of going to other people's backyards and getting it in, so this is right up my alley. I know he's going to bring it. I'm going to bring it, and one of us is going to prove the other one wrong."
Proving people wrong is certainly nothing new for Watley. Once counted out, his career resurgence wasn't necessarily expected, but with a CFFC title already around his waist, Watley is ready to keep adding chapters to his incredible comeback story.
"Contact" says he'll do exactly that at CFFC 128.
"At the end of 2022, almost losing my life, it provided a new perspective for me," Watley said. Like, I can say that I'm going to fight for the next 10 years, but I'm not guaranteed tomorrow. You're not guaranteed tomorrow. We don't know when it's going to end, so I'm just really trying to make the most of every opportunity and really be appreciative for what it is, because, you know, I could have been done.
"Like every time I go and get a medical, sometimes I'm like, 'Oh, I'm hoping this comes back good and I can still do this,' and fortunately, the Most High has blessed me that my body's held up enough that I can still, but I'm not delusional in the regard to what I do. This sport is unforgiving, so you know, every fight really could be my last, so I want to treat it like that and really appreciate the preparation, the sacrifice from myself, of my friends, the people coming out to support, so I'm just really like grasping everything that I think I've been missing in the early part of my career."
