Titan Fighting Championship’s President and CEO Jeff Aronson is coming off the heels of a successful Titan FC 34 event which aired for the first time on UFC Fight Pass Aronson caught up with MMAOddsBreaker on an Extra Edition of The Parting Shot Podcast and discussed a variety of topics. Overall thoughts on Titan FC 34 and UFC’s feedback “UFC’s feedback has been tremendous on the event. I was thrilled with the card and the way things worked themselves out, even though there were some issues going into it. I think the card more then delivered; I think it was by the best card that Titan has put on. Watching the fights unfold, seeing the new graphics packages we were using. We trended number #2 in the world on Twitter that night, which is ungodly. More people tuning into Titan FC then I’ve ever seen. For me it was just an incredible event and an accumulation of all the hard work from myself, Lex McMahon and all the people at UFC and UFC Fight Pass.” Titan FC 34 moved from Montreal to Kansas City “We were originally going to the Verdun Auditorium [in Montreal] and we found out later that they had no air conditioning. The thought of doing a card in the middle of July in Canada and not having air conditioning was just way too scary for me. We didn’t do it and we wound up in a building in Kansas City that air conditioning but they forgot to turn it on till halfway through the event, so it was hot any ways. It was a logistics standpoint, everything was really rushed. UFC deal, it was months of negotiation and then it just happened. It’s one of those things you can sit, you can wait and you can plan but it’s like they say a man has plans and god laughs. It was one of those situations. We were supposed to be in the Verdun Auditorium a month and a half before, but because things took so long and the UFC deal took longer to precipitate, so that was kind the situation. [The Quebec Comission was not the issue] they were fine. Decision to hire Canadian broadcaster Showdown Joe to the event “First of all Showdown Joe is incredible, he’s just awesome. I couldn’t have been happier with the feedback, UFC’s feedback, everybody. He did an incredible job and took control of his position. He was seamless with Firas Zahabi and Tony Luftman. The way it came through, was we always use a three man announce booth. For this event we decided to go two and then we kind of wanted to have a man on the street. We were going through who would be that guy and we were thinking about it. Credit to Lex McMahon he thought that Showdown Joe would be the right guy. We went back and forth and Joe agreed to do it. I think it came out fantastic. I thought it was so cool he was coming in with the information from each corner [in between rounds]. I was really a huge [fan] of it. I thought Joe added a tremendous amount; we’re going to try to incorporate Joe into all the shows, schedule permitting. Decision to replace Mike Ricci in the Titan FC 34 main event with Marcus Edwards “Literally our phones were lighting up with people want to take that spot. Mike got injured unfortunately and literally at the 11th hour. Marcus Edwards is somebody I’ve watched massive amounts of tape on. We all agreed Marcus Edwards would be a tremendous opponent for Pat Healy, that there would be no loss in talent, putting Marcus Edwards in there.” Thoughts on Edwards vs. Ricci lightweight championship bout “I think [Edwards] had to lose too much weight way too fast, so it sucked his cardio out. So the second round unfortunately he got finished. That’s definitely a fight I’d like to see a rematch in a fight or two with Marcus getting some wins. You will see Marcus Edwards, god willing he’s healthy, on the next Titan card. God willing Pat is healthy he’ll be on the next Titan card, not against each other. But they’ll be there. I’m sure if fate has it, they’ll meet again. I don’t know what the outcome is going to be. If you gave Marcus Edwards a full camp against Pat Healy, man Marcus Edwards is one scary kid. I wouldn’t bet on that fight by a long shot.” Next opponent for lightweight champion Pat Healy “I would think [Ricci] is probably the next fight for him, I have to go to talk to Mike Ricci. It depends if Mike needs surgery or how long he’s out. If not I have someone else on deck that the fans will be incredibly excited for. That everybody knows the name of, who’s one of the top guys in the sport that’s ready to fight Pat Healy. I’m not sure if Mike Ricci will be next for Pat Healy or not. There are a lot of guys knocking at the door and we’ll make the decision next week.” Would the promotion matchup Desmond Green and Freddy Assuncao next, if Andre Harrison signs with the UFC? “I absolutely would [do that fight], I just think that Freddy Assuncao may have blown out his ACL. I’ll find that out in the next couple of days. Andre Harrison is an incredibly talented kid; I actually scouted [him]. I really hoping that the fight with Desmond Green goes off because I think Andre Harrison vs. Desmond Green is 100% winner goes to the UFC. Not just UFC, but winner goes into a major position in the UFC. That’s a dream type of fight for a promoter.” Flyweight champion Tim Elliott’s next opponent “We’re figuring that out right now, there are actually a couple of people in mind. We’re working on that right now.” Montreal Event in the near future “I can’t wait to get out to Monteral. We’re working on that. I would like to get out to Montreal either by the end of the year or the first quarter of next year. We are so popular in Canada, it’s unbelievable.” Next event, September 19th “I don’t think it’s going to be in Kansas City, we’re going to be on a call soon to work that out. As long as neither one of them get hurt, JZ Cavalcante will be fighting Rick Hawn on [that] card. Injury updates on Mike Ricci and Phil Hawes “Phil Hawes will be fine; I think he’ll be on that September 19th card which is official now. As far as Mike goes, I’m not sure if he’s going to have to undergo surgery or not at this point. I was actually planning on giving him a couple days and checking in with him towards the end of the week.” Critics saying Alchemist clients are a conflict of interest with Titan “I mean how do you really think it’s a conflict of interest [with Ricci fighting Pat Healy] when Healy is one of the most durable veterans in the sport that we’ve ever known? He was a Top 10 guy in the UFC now he’s on fire in Titan, on a two fight win streak now. I want to make the best fights possible for Titan, if somebody is an Alchemist client or not, it has no bearing on what the matchmakers decide to do with the event. At the end of the day, if somebody is a better man, I want the better man to win because the cream rises to the top. It lets the world know that Titan is truly the best place to go and perform. If you can go and perform in Titan, you can perform anywhere and you most likely going to get picked up by the UFC. The people that Alchemist manages are irrelevant to me; I don’t care on a day to day basis. I have nothing to do with it other than I know some of the athletes. I want to see the best guys against the best guys.” You follow Jeff on Twitter @JAronsonTitanFC and you can listen to the full audio version of this interview on an Extra edition of The Parting Shot Podcast below (1min in)
