Titan FC matchmaker Scott Cutbirth caught up with MMAOddsBreaker on Episode 118 of The Parting Shot Podcast and discussed a variety of topics. What the last year has been like leaving RFA and joining Titan FC “[It’s been] a whirlwind I guess, it’s a lot of fun I enjoy what I do. My time at RFA was great and things ended there. I took a step back to kind of spend some time with family and move forward with Survivor Fighting Alliance. Jeff [Aronson] gave me a call a couple of times and try to talk me into coming on board. Eventually I just said ‘sure’ and the direction that things are going is phenomenal. I’m excited.” Differences between working for Titan as opposed to RFA “There is probably a little more responsibility as far as the paperwork side of things with Titan then there was over at RFA. Also I’m working with my best friend with Joe Wooster [who is a] matchmaker as well. That takes a lot of pressure off of it. Being on UFC Fight Pass and going the direction we’re going makes negotiating contracts easier. Having Joe there help me along the way has been phenomenal.” Thoughts on Marcus Edwards vs. Pat Healy at Titan FC 34 “It really was a good fight; I’ve watched Marcus for a long time. His pro debut was against Justin Gaethje and it went to a close decision. He’s a tough guy, his loss in the MFC he actually blew his ACL in that fight, like completely blew it out. If you’re just looking at stats and things like that, it’s not giving a true depth of who Marcus Edwards really is. That’s a dangerous man. The first round, I thought he had a great first round. Things just didn’t work out for him in that particular fight, it’s not to say that’s not a winnable fight for him. I’m glad to have him on our roster.” Titan FC 35 going head to head with Bellator Dynamite on September 19th “I think [our] fan base will be more than sufficient. I think what we’re doing is a little bit different; I think we’ll actually going start a couple hours before the Bellator card. I hope that the fights that we put together that the fan base will continue to watch. If they flip back and forth or have us on their computer and Bellator on their TV, that’s great because the whole goal is for MMA to grow as a whole.” Decision to have Pat Healy defend his 155lb title against Rick Hawn in the Titan FC 35 main event “We’re trying to make smart choices as far as the venues that we’re selecting and the areas that we’re going. There’s a lot of talent in the Portland-Washington area that is really close to each other. There’s a lot of solid talent there. With Pat being our champion, we want to carry a main event in an area where we have talent so obviously the fans don’t leave before the main event. Rick Hawn went to high school in Eugene, Oregon only a couple hours of way. So he’ll actually got a lot of fans coming. Obviously Pat is training there and his family there. An exciting card top to bottom and we’re done with it yet.” Thoughts on Andre Harrison defending his 145lb title against Desmond Green “Both of them are definitely UFC ready. If the UFC is to call and requests one of them, that’s exciting, that’s the pinnace of what we’re trying to do. Granted I hope they don’t it a week prior to the show or anything like that. If they were to give him a call tomorrow and [give them] the opportunity, I’d just be happy as they are.” Thoughts on Tim Elliott defending his 125lb title against Felipe Efrain “It’s a great fight. [Efrain] is a very dangerous fighter, he’s young. I think he’s the youngest to [earn] a blackbelt in the Chute Box system. He trains with Thomas Almeida, his striking is phenomenal. In a fight where Tim is crazy, it poses a lot of threats for both individuals. Those are the types of fights we want to have. Being able to bring in a young prospect that has so much potential really is some of the things we’ve been trying to do. To be able to get guys to the next level. Tim is a veteran that should have never been cut from the UFC. He came in a put on a tremendous performance against Iliarde Santos. It’s definitely a great fight and I’m looking forward to watching it.” Thoughts on Belal Mohammed competing on the card and doing a potential vacant welterweight title fight in the future “[Doing a vacant title fight] is something that we’re always looking at. I’m not going to guarantee with a win [Mohammed] is going to get a title fight but I’m also not going to say that he’s not deserving of one either. It’s just how the cards play out. There’s nothing to say that Belal doesn’t get signed [to the UFC] with a big win here. He’s got a huge task in front of him in Zane [Kamaka] and that’s another fight that I’m really exciting to see. You’ve got two contrasting styles with Belals kind of a grinder with some personality, Zane is a guy with some tremendous standup and one of the best welterweights from Hawaii.” Other matchups to watch on Titan FC 35 “Ricky Simon vs. Alex Soto, another UFC veteran. Ricky picked up another win this past weekend. He’s a local kid, 6-0 now and this will be a big test for him to see where he’s at. Peter Petties is fighting a local in Mohammed Abed, Peter is an exciting fighter out of Lloyd Irvin’s. That another fight I’m looking forward to.” Signing prospects Rasul Shovhalov (11-3) and Musa Khamanaev (15-3) “Both are down training at the Blackzillians. Both are huge talents that are on the UFC radar. Musa is the M1 Global lightweight champion, has some phenomenal wins, a Sambo champion and a wrestling background. These two great guys to add to our roster and we’re looking to add some other guys right now as well.” Update on JZ Cavalcante “Originally we wanted to have him on [Titan FC 34] and he had an opportunity to do some pro wrestling in Japan or something like that. Obviously we’re not going to hold anyone back to make any extra money. We’ll have him on a card soon, before the end of the year for sure.” Update on Freddy Assuncao “We’re still waiting to hear from him. When he went home he had a MRI done and turns out he did blow his knee out. He’s going to have to have some surgery, I think his expectations are to be back sometime the first part of next year. Update on Mike Ricci “I haven’t heard anything different from his camp to know where exactly his injuries are concerned. I believe he messed up some tendons in his wrist. I honestly don’t know where he stands there.” Update on the Titan FC heavyweight division “We’re definitely going to bring the heavyweight division back; I’m currently negotiating with a couple of fighters as we speak and trying to build the depth to that roster. As soon as we feel that we have the depth that’s needed to bring that title back, we’ll do that.” Update on the Titan FC light heavyweight division “We’re always looking at talent. The weight classes kind of change every day as far as where the depth’s at, where’s the talents at. Right now we’re really strong in the featherweight division, tomorrow we could be really strong in the light heavyweight division. You just never known, we just kind of go with it. We’re in that position where we don’t have to always have a title holder in every weight class. Our whole goal is a little different, we’re not trying to keep our champions, and we’re trying to promote our champions.” Women’s MMA in Titan FC “I guarantee it [will happen]; I’m a big proponent for women’s mixed marital arts. That’s one thing I did while I was with RFA I always made sure we had one female fight on the televised portion every time. These girls put in just as much hard work as the men do. They’re deserving of the opportunism as well. I consider myself really good friends with Shannon Knapp; we live within 20 minutes of each other. She’s a tremendous friend. With her permission we’ll absolutely move forward and add some women’s fights. If not by the end of the year, by the first part of next year.” You follow Scott on Twitter @drfightmatcher You can listen to the full audio version of this interview on Episode 118 of The Parting Shot Podcast below (72 mins in)
