It’s been over ten months since Jake Matthews stepped foot inside the UFC octagon. With the birth of his daughter Alani this past January, along with getting back into the flow of training, it has been a much-needed break for the Aussie. And while midnight feedings and changing diapers might be a big changes to his daily routine, it hasn’t affected his preparation for this weekend’s bout at UFC 243.

Not too much actually, Matthews told The Top Turtle MMA Podcast. I still get out and train every day, get as many sessions as I always have.

While the actual fight preparation has not been affected yet, you still might see a major difference in the cage with Matthews. Much like fellow lightweight/welterweight Donald Cerrone, Matthews now has more to fight for.

Obviously the motivation is ten-fold now that I’ve got a daughter, he said. Being the first fight since I’ve had my daughter, hopefully we’re going to see that motivation in the octagon.

Although he finds that same motivation as Cerrone, don’t expect him to be dragging little Alani into the cage this weekend following a win. At only 10 months, he thinks she might be just a little too young.

Probably not for this one – it might be a little too loud for her, Matthews said. Hopefully next time, when she’s up and walking around we’ll get her along to a fight.

But that won’t mean that there won’t be plenty of fans in attendance for the hometown kid – Matthews expects a big crowd on hand.

My girlfriend will be there, all my family, my friends, all my teammates – probably hundreds and hundreds of people, he said. Definitely going to be loud and going to pump me up.

We’ll see the effects of that new motivation this weekend as Matthews takes on Rostem Akman on the preliminary portion of the UFC 243 card, live from Melbourne, Australia.

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Author Daniel Vreeland is a co-founder of the Top Turtle Podcast, and a brown belt in Jiu-Jitsu at New England Submission Fighting in Amherst, Massachusetts.