It’s an unfortunate story we’ve heard far too often with World Series of Fighting. A disgruntled fighter on WSOF’s roster, financially strapped due to lack of cage time. That’s what happened to 8-1 featherweight prospect Freddy Assuncao this past year. “WSOF took on more than they could handle.” Assuncao told MMAOddsBreaker. “I had a pretty good [Four fight deal] with them [for a pretty decent] amount of money. [Prior to signing with them] I was coming off ACL surgery, I was out for a year. When I got cleared in November of 2013, I started training camp. I fought in January in 2014 and I didn’t perform the way I wanted, I had a lot of atrophy in my leg. I wanted to get some momentum going, I’m on a seven fight win streak. I wanted to fight throughout the year.” The ATT Atlanta product believes he was kept on the sidelines for an extended period of time due to favouritism from the promotion. In his debut at WSOF16 he defeated Brenden Hansen by split decision. Hansen trains out of Xtreme Couture in Las Vegas and is coached by WSOF founder Ray Sefo. “I beat one of Ray Sefos’ guys and I don’t think they wanted me to beat him.” Assuncao explained. “After that they kept me on the shelf, I was [thinking] why am I waiting? I’m coming off a win? They kept putting on other cards and saying there weren’t a lot of [matchups] for me. [Hansen] which is Ray Sefos student lost, I beat him, and since our matchup he’s fought twice. I actually wanted to fight Cody Bollinger, that was back in July, Cody accepted. Fans were excited about it. [Ali Abdel-Aziz] kept denying me the fight; He wanted me to fight Chris Horodecki in Canada. They’re trying to get me into a fight where they were hoping I was going to lose, I’m thinking so they can building Horodecki, his name on top of [mine], which is cool. It’s ok, I took the fight anyways. About a week later I got injured.” This is the point where Assuncao’s relationship with WSOF went sour. The Brazilian claims that WSOF matchmaker Aziz was feeding inaccurate information to his teammates and as a result, he requested his release from the promotion. “I told [Ali] give me four weeks so I can resume training camp. After that, he told my training partner Brian Stann, that I didn’t want to take any fights. He also told one of my coaches Roan Carneiro that I didn’t want to fight. He was lying. Just things like that got me really frustrated. I waited until December of 2014 and I called my former manager Glenn Robinson. I want to get released, I don’t care if they are the #2 or #3 promotion. I don’t want to fight an organization that doesn’t give a shit about their fighters. Luckily they released me.” While the 32-year old is happy to be out of his contract, he has empathy for other fighters experiencing similar issues. But as he explains, he doesn’t see the Las Vegas based promotion continuing much longer. “I don’t think they are going to last very long. They try to mimic a lot of the stuff from the UFC. They’re not very organized [and] not ready to put on a show that size and be able to keep up with their roster of fighters. First off you have to take care of your fighters, those are the guys who are putting on the show. We’re doing our job for you guys, they flew us out on super cheap flights, crappy hotels, the ones that I stayed in Florida. Just being around different type of promotions, [it shows[ they’re not going to last.” This year Assuncao has turned over a new leaf. He’s under new representation with Alchemist Management and recently signed a multi-fight deal with the Titan Fighting Championships. In addition as Assuncaio points out, the timing couldn’t have been better for both parties involved. “I’m really excited about the Titan deal, I fought for them under different ownership before. After talking to [CEO Jeff Aronson], it was a no brainier. We’re on the same page, I want to fight and stay busy. I’m 32 years old I can’t sit around all year and wait for a fight, like WSOF had me doing. They’re one of the top organizations out there aside from the UFC or Bellator. I’m really happy with them so far, they’re really taking care of the fighters.” Rumours have circulated that Titan’s next event could be north of the border in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, potentially in June or July. Assuncao expressed his excitment about potentially making the trip to La-Belle Province for the first time. “The Canadian fans they’re like Brazilians, they really like the sport. They cheer us a lot and I’m ready to put on a show, You can definitely expect a good fight, I’ll be looking for the finish. I’ve never been to Montreal, I’m excited for that, it’s going to be fun.” With his impressive resume, that currently includes a seven fight win streak, Assuncao believes his next opponent will be one of the top tier featherweights in the organization. In terms of what’s next for the Atlanta native, he’s believes matchup against 145lb champion Kurt Holobaugh makes the most sense. “I don’t know if they’re going to do a rematch [with Holobaugh vs. Desmond Green]. I haven’t heard from Titan yet. I know I’m supposed to find out soon who I’m going to fight. It’s going to be one of those tops guys. I want to test myself, one of the top guys. Because some guys pick and choose fights so they can baby their way into the UFC. Then when they get into the UFC [with] that higher level, you get a rude awakening. When I make the transition to the UFC, I’ll be ready.” Follow Freddy on Twitter @Freddy_Assuncao
