Jake Matthews welcomes a future fight with Sage Northcutt

Many of the eyeballs during the UFC’s ongoing youth movement are pointed at 19-year-old Sage Northcutt and 21-year-old Paige VanZant. But Aussie-born lightweight Jake Matthews somehow seems like the rugged veteran despite just turning 21 years old a few weeks ago.

Matthews fought as part of "The Ultimate Fighter: Nations" in 2014 before amassing a 2-1 record in the UFC over the last year. As he approaches his fourth fight, coming up this weekend at UFC 193 against Akbarh Arreola, Matthews is excited about the wave of young talent joining the ranks along with him.

"They're all sort of coming in at the same time. There's a bunch in their early 20's with myself, Sage Northcutt, who is 19, Paige might have been 19 when she got in as well. It's just showing everyone the new generation that's coming through. The new breed of fighters where we start everything at one time and we're not afraid to go anywhere," Matthews told FOX Sports.

"We could be fighting a jiu-jitsu world champion and we're not afraid to go to the ground with them. We understand that it's MMA and you can't go in there with just one discipline. I think that's the next generation of fighters in the UFC. We start MMA at the same time in all disciplines and it makes for better fights as well. The fights are really high paced. It's the new breed of fighters."

Northcutt burst on the scene in early October at UFC 192 where he tore through Francisco Trevino in just 57-seconds. Because he's a lightweight fighter, Matthews immediately took notice and admits he's thought about fighting the rising star after he's finished with his upcoming bout in Australia.

"That would be awesome. Trust me, I've thought about it," Matthews said about facing Northcutt. "As soon as I heard his name come up and it's sort of a pecking order thing. I was that kid and now he's coming up, he's this 19-year-old kid coming into the UFC and he just had a good debut. I could be his next one, you never know."

While some fighters have had more than a few unkind words to say about Northcutt since his arrival, Matthews has nothing but respect for the teenage prospect but would still enjoy fighting him in the Octagon.

At the end of the day, Matthews just looks at Northcutt as the kind of opponent who would make for an exciting fight and that's all he's ever wanted since starting his professional career.

"He's not afraid to go anywhere," Matthews said. "He'll stand with you, he'll go for the takedown, he'll go to the ground, he'll wrestle, that's mixed martial arts. You have to be good everywhere and we're both well rounded and when you get two well rounded guys who are going to go anywhere and everywhere, then that's what's going to make for a good fight so I think it would be."

As much as fighting Northcutt interests him, Matthews is much more concerned about his bout this weekend where he'll headline the UFC 193 prelims on FS1.

The spot on the card is made even more special for Matthews, who along with Dan Kelly are two fighters born and raised in Melbourne, Australia, who get to fight in front of 70,000 fans the first UFC card held in the city.

Matthews says he didn't even know who else was on the card besides Ronda Rousey and a couple of others, but none of that mattered once he realized he was getting the chance to fight in his hometown.

"I hadn't even really taken notice who was on the card," Matthews said. "I could tell you that Ronda Rousey's on the card, Holly Holm's on the card, Robert Whittaker's on the card and that's about it. I'll be just as excited if they took two bums off the street and put them in the main event."