This Friday (Dec. 15, 2017) Titan FC hosts their 47th event at the Xtreme Action Park in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida and in the main event undefeated Sodiq Yusuff (5-0) faces Luis Raul Gomez Alvarez (5-1) for the vacant featherweight title. Close to two-years ago (Dec. 18, 2015 to be exact) Titan FC was set to host one of their most stacked card in promotions history with Titan FC 36: Elliott vs. Nobre which was set to take place at Scottish Rite Temple in Kansas City, Missouri. This was one of the most anticipated regional MMA events of the year and featured a number of exciting prospects along with some notable UFC veterans. However close to a week before fight time, one tweet by former PR man (R.I.P) Bryan Levick changed everything.
Unfortunately we have had to cancel #TitanFC36 on #December18. We will be releasing a statement shortly. Look forward to a great #2016
— Titan FC (@TitanFighting) December 9, 2015
Surprisingly the event was cancelled with President and CEO Jeff Aronson battling personal health issues. Here was a statement released from the promotion after the event was officially called off.
“With heavy hearts and deep regret, Titan FC has announced the cancellation of Titan FC 36 this afternoon due to health complications related to an unexpected surgical procedure CEO Jeff Aronson underwent recently. The event was scheduled to take place on December 18 from The Scottish Rite Center in KC, MO and stream live on UFC Fight Pass. Titan FC’s dedicated staff made every effort to go through with the card, but with Aronson away and unable to handle his duties as CEO, the promotion was logistically not prepared to move forward with Titan FC 36. While the cancellation of any event is the last thing any promotion wants to do, Titan FC is confident that 2016 will be an amazing year for the fans and the great fighters who have helped the organization grow into an MMA powerhouse in less than two years. The dates and venues are being worked on and a schedule of events for 2016 will be released shortly. CEO Jeff Aronson will address the fans and fighters as soon as he is physically able to do so.”
Since then, the promotion has yet to return to the Midwest and fans missed out on what could have been one of the most exciting events in Titan FC history. Just to give you an idea of what the card could have been, here was what that lineup looked like at one point.
Tim Elliott (c) vs. Pedro Nobre – for flyweight title
Anthony Gutierrez vs. Andrew Yates
Zak Bucia vs. David Michaud
Zach Freeman vs. Jason Witt
Kevin Croom vs. Cody Stamann
Dave Burrow vs. Grant Dawson
Gerald Meerschaert vs. Ronald Stallings
Aaron Ely vs. Nick Mamalis
Jack May vs. Chase Sherman
Brian Davidson vs. Chris Pecero
Jose Torres vs. Ian Lujan
Julian Marquez vs. Cameron Olson
Brian Camozzi vs. Josh Tulley
Despite the cancellation of this card, we’re still seeing the impact of these fighters in 2017. Here’s a look at how these fighters have fared since that cancelled card along with interviews that never saw the light of day here on MMAOddsBreaker prior to Titan FC 36’s cancellation. Myself and Frank Trigg ended up doing a total 30 interviews for this card!
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Tim Elliott
Elliott would end up defeating Nobre by unanimous decision on the Titan FC 37 card in March of 2015. From there he would compete on Season 24 of The Ultimate Fighter where he ended up winning the tournament defeating Charlie Alaniz, Matt Schnell, Eric Shelton and Hiromasa Ogikubo. He would lose a highly entertaining decision to Demetrious Johnson at The Ultimate Fighter Season 24 Finale and would go 1-1 following that title loss. The 30-year-old faces Pietro Menga this Saturday UFC on FOX 26.
Here’s a trip down memory lane as Frank Trigg interviewed Elliott prior to Titan FC 36
Pedro Nobre After losing to Elliott at Titan FC 37, Nobre has gone 1-2 since then earning a split decision win over LFA veteran Sid Bice while losing back-to-back fights against Jose Shorty Torres (Titan FC 43) and Ali Bagautinov (Fight Nights Global 69).
Anthony Gutierrez Most people forget Gutierrez went through three different opponents prior to Titan FC 36 being cancelled. First he was slated to face Ricky Simon (who fights Friday for the vacant bantamweight title at LFA 29), then a rematch against Walel Watson and finally Andrew “Golden Boy” Yates. The Ultimate Fighter Season 18 contestant has only fought three times since the cancelled card, going 2-1 with wins over Christian Camp and Alex Wiggs Jr, while losing a split decision to Gabriel Solorio at Titan FC 37.
Here’s a trip down memory lane with my interview with Gutierrez prior to Titan FC 36
Andrew “Golden Boy” Yates Yates has only fought twice since Titan FC 36 was cancelled and never ended up competing for the Florida based promotion. The 28-year-old has gone 0-2 since then, suffering back-to-back submission losses to Jeremy Vaughn and Andrew Tenneson.
Here’s my interview with Yates prior to the cancellation
Here’s Frank Trigg’s interview with Yates
Zak Bucia Bucia was rescheduled on the Titan FC 37 card in March 2015 against Jason Novelli and would end up losing a unanimous decision. From there “Crash” would go 3-1 where he captured the Shamrock FC welterweight title this past May defeating UFC veteran Bobby Voelker. After winning the Shamrock FC championship, Bucia was automatically awarded a Bellator contract and lost a short-notice fight to Neiman Gracie at Bellator 185 in October.
Here’s Frank Trigg’s interview with Bucia
David Michaud At the time this was supposed to be Michaud’s first fight since his UFC release as he went 1-2 with the Las Vegas-based promotion defeating Garett Whiteley and losing to Jingliang Li and Olivier Aubin-Mercier. The MMA Lab standout would only compete one more time for Titan FC where he lost a controversial unanimous decision to Dhiego Lima at Titan FC 39 for the promotion’s welterweight title. Since Titan FC 36 was cancelled, Michaud has gone 4-2, most recently defeating Tyler Milner by submission at SCL 63 this past October.
Here’s my interview with Michaud:
Here’s Frank Trigg’s interview with Michaud
Zach Freeman Freeman is one of the more notable fighters from this card as he defeated highly touted prospect Aaron Pico this past June at Bellator NYC. After Titan FC 36 was cancelled, Freeman lost a decision to Thiago Moises at RFA 44 for the promotion’s lightweight title. He’s coming off a TKO loss to Saad Awad at Bellator 186 this past November.
Jason Witt Witt has gone 4-2 since Titan FC 36 was cancelled and is currently riding a three-fight win streak. “The Vanilla Gorilla” is coming off a unanimous decision win over UFC veteran Jake Lindsay at KCFA 25 in September and his slated to compete against Ty Freeman this Friday at LFA 29.
Here’s my interview with Witt
Here’s Frank Trigg’s interview with Witt
Kevin Croom Croom was first slated to fight Ricky Simon on this card but was later scheduled to square off with Cody Stamann. Since this cancelled card, Croom has gone 1-2, most recently losing by TKO to CES MMA featherweight champion Matt Bessette this past January at CES 41.
Here’s my interview with Croom
Cody Stamann Stamann never ended up competing for Titan FC and would go on to win five-straight fights before signing with the UFC earlier this summer. As we all know, the rest his history with the Michigan Top Team product defeating Terrion Ware (UFC 213) and Tom Duquesnoy (UFC 216) and remains one of the brightest prospects in the UFC’s bantamweight division. Here’s Frank Trigg’s interview with Cody Stamann
Dave Burrow Burrow has had a rough go since this card was cancelled. “The Duke” has gone 0-2, losing to Austin Arnett at the rescheduled Titan FC 37 card and is coming off a submission loss to Derrick Krantz at Legacy FC 57 in August 2016. The 26-year-old has yet to compete this year.
Here’s my interview with Burrow
Here’s Frank Trigg’s interview with Burrow
Grant Dawson Dawson has gone 5-1 since this card was cancelled and only ended up competing one more time for Titan FC here he earned a TKO victory over Robert Washington at Titan FC 37. Earlier this year the 23-year-old submitted Adrian Diaz at Dana White’s Contender Series 6 in August, however his future is in limbo after being flagged by USADA.
Here’s my interview with Dawson
Here’s Frank Trigg’s interview with Dawson
Gerald Meerschaert Like other fighters scheduled to compete on Titan FC 36, Meerschaert would never compete for the promotion following the cancellation of this card. The Roufusport product would go 2-0 following Titan FC 36 and ended up capturing the RFA middleweight title in October 2016 before signing with the UFC. Since signing with the Las Vegas-based promotion, the 29-year-old has gone 3-1 in the Octagon, most recently defeating Eric Spicely by TKO at The Ultimate Fighter Season 26 Finale earlier this month.
Here’s my interview with Meerschaert
Here’s Frank Trigg’s interview with Meerscahert
Ron Stallings After the Titan FC 36 cancellation, Stallings was slated to face Cristiano Souza at Titan FC 47 but that matchup ended up being scrapped. He later earned a split decision over Rashaun Spencer at Titan FC 40 but has yet to compete since then. He was slated to face UFC veteran Mike “Biggie” Rhodes at Victory FC 53 in November 2016, however Rhodes fell ill the week of the fight.
Aaron Ely Ely is one of two fighters on this card who hasn’t stepped foot in a MMA cage since this card was cancelled.
Here’s my interview with Ely
Nick Mamalis The 31-year-old has gone 3-2 since Titan FC 36 was cancelled competing against fighters like UFC bantamweight Terrion Ware and Contender Series flyweight Nick Urso. “Garfield” fights this Saturday against Ricky Bandejas at CFFC 69.
Here’s Frank Trigg’s interview with Mamalis
Jack May
This was one of the few matchups on the cancelled Titan FC 36 card that was rescheduled for the following event. May would end up losing to Chase Sherman at Titan FC 47 due to injury, but has since bounced back, earning back-to-back wins over Tony Lopez and most recently Dave Cryer at Bellator 170 in January.
Here’s my interview with May
Chase Sherman
Sherman would compete one more time for Titan FC before signing with the UFC in 2016. Despite the Jackson/Wink product going 2-3 in the Octagon – most recently losing to Shamil Abdurahimov at UFC Fight Night 122 – the 28-year-old has created quite the following on social media generating over twenty thousand followers on Twitter this past year.
Here’s my interview with Sherman
Brian Davidson His matchup at Titan FC 36 against Chris Pecero was supposed to be his retirement fight and unfortunately it never happened. The 42-year-old never competed in the cage again and has instead focused on his highly successful Real Estate business.
Here’s my interview with Davidson
Here’s Frank Trigg’s interview with Davidson
Chris Pecero
Pecero has only competed once since this card was cancelled, losing by first-round submission to Alexander Hernandez at RFA 41 in August 2016. The 31-year-old was set to face Rey Trujillo earlier this year at Super Brawl 4 in February, however the event was cancelled.
Here’s my interview with Pecero
Here’s Frank Trigg’s interview with Pecero
Jose Torres Hard to believe it was only two-years ago that Torres was slated to make his professional debut on this cancelled Titan FC 36 card. The Chicago native would be the most active fighter on this card for Titan FC going forward, going a perfect 5-0 and capturing two Titan FC championships (flyweight and bantamweight). Torres was actually slated to face Steven Graham on this card before Ian Lujan stepped in. Now the 25-year-old is on the verge of a UFC contract.
Here’s my interview with Torres
Here’s Frank Trigg’s interview with Torres
Ian Lujan Lujan would never compete for Titan FC and has only fought once since then, losing a unanimous decision to Demetrius Wilson at Victory FC 52 in August 2016.
Here’s my interview with Lujan
Julian Marquez Marquez would also go on to a successful career following the cancellation of this card and never competed for Titan FC. The 27-year-old has gone 4-1, including a first-round TKO victory over Cameron Olson at LFA 12 this past May (who he was slated to face at Titan FC 36) which earned him a spot on the Contender Series this year. Of course we all know what happened after that, Marquez earned a highlight reel TKO victory over Phil Hawes at Dana White’s Contender Series 4 back in August where he earned a UFC contract. The 27-year-old faces Darren Stewart this Saturday at UFC on FOX 26.
Cameron Olson Olson never fought for Titan FC after this card was cancelled and would go on a 5-2 run including a unanimous decision victory over Karl Reed at Dana White’s Contender Series 6 in August. Olson only fought at middleweight one more time – losing to Jordan Young at Victory FC 38 – as has been a mainstay in the 205-pound division. Like a number of fighters on this cancelled card, Olson competes Friday at LFA 29 against Jaquis Williams.
Here’s my interview with Olson
Brian Camozzi Camozzi never stepped foot in the Titan FC cage following this cancelled event. Instead he went on a 3-0 run, including a first-round TKO victory over Nick Barnes where he captured the vacant RFA welterweight title. The win was enough for the UFC to sign him, however he’s struggled in the Octagon losing back-to-back fights by TKO against Randy Brown and most recently Chad Laprise at UFC 213 in July.
Here’s my interview with Camozzi when he was set to face off with late replacement Jeremiah Denson (2-2)
Josh Tully Tully has only competed twice since this cancelled card and never for Titan FC. After winning by TKO against Dominic Garcia this past May at KCFA 23, the 34-year-old lost by first-round submission to Dakota Cochrane at DCS 38 this past weekend.
