  We study the coupling of fermions to Yang-Mills matrix models in the
framework of emergent noncommutative gravity. It is shown that the matrix model
action provides an appropriate coupling for fermions to gravity, albeit with a
non-standard spin-connection. Integrating out the fermions in a nontrivial
geometrical background induces indeed the Einstein-Hilbert action for on-shell
geometries plus a dilaton-like term. This result explains UV/IR mixing as a
gravity effect. It also illuminates why UV/IR mixing remains even in
supersymmetric models, except in the N=4 case.
