Titan CEO Jeff Aronson: ‘Not a UFC feeder league – it’s a fighter appreciation league’

The MMA landscape has become much more crowded in recent years, and with new promotions seemingly popping up every day, some are struggling to find a niche to stand out and a place to thrive.

When it comes to Titan FC, though, CEO Jeff Aronson said there is no identity crisis. He knows where his organization fits in a frequently evolving MMA world, and it doesn’t involve being a feeder league to the UFC. Instead, he said, it’s one where ex and aspiring UFC fighters can face the sternest competition available.
“It’s not a UFC feeder league – it’s a fighter appreciation league,” Aronson told MMAjunkie ahead of Friday’s Titan FC 28 event on CBS Sports Network. “I want to do great by the fighters. You talk about guys that train five, six days a week and train two times a day for two hours. Incredible workouts. But then when it’s time to get in the cage, they can’t get good fights. At Titan, there are no gimme fights.”

While some fighters may look at Titan FC as a potential place to get a few easy wins en route back to the UFC, Aronson claims that’s not the case. He said fighters coming to Titan FC should expect difficult matchups. If you can’t win those fights, why would you be deserving of a place on the UFC roster?

“These guys are going to go in and get battle tested,” Arsonson said. “If you’re doing all this work to prove yourself and see how good you are, why would you not want to fight the best in the world? Why would you not want to get battle tested and prove you’re UFC caliber? Just because I’m not in the UFC doesn’t mean I’m not a UFC-level guy. Just look at Anthony Johnson.

“There are situations with timing and divisions that are clustered up. Titan is turning into the de facto place for these guys to come and get some fights, go back to the UFC and wreak havoc.”

As a former MMA manager, Aronson knows what it’s like to be on the other side working with a promoter. He’s aware that essentially all fighters have the goal of eventually fighting for the UFC, and while he’d love to hang on to any elite talent that comes through Titan FC, he’s not going to hold anyone back from his or her ultimate dream. That’s why he offers a “Zuffa clause” that allows Titan FC fighters to opt out of their contracts should the UFC come calling.

“The Zuffa out is something I did not because I felt I needed too or had too, but because I wanted too,” Aronson said. “Coming from a management perspective, there are some promotions you sign with and it’s like you’re stuck there forever. I want fighters to have the ability to step up and be able to go to UFC.”

Another perk of Aronson’s background in fighter management is his ability to scout talent from around the globe. Aronson knows the next superstar could be right around the corner, which is why he doesn’t dwell on the possibility of his top fighters leaving.

“What people don’t realize from my background is the amount of talent rich waters we see every single day,” Aronson said. “It’s so incredible that I never know from one day or the next. The next Cain Velasquez, the next Junior Dos Santos or the next Georges St-Pierre could walk into my office. There’s so much talent around every day now that I don’t have any fear of losing guys. If I built a guy and they go into the UFC and they do great, it looks great upon Titan.

“I know every management company in the industry, I know most of the fighters, and I know most of the heads of the promotions and have great relationships with them all. You’d be hard pressed to find anyone out there who would say anything but that I’ve been completely forthright for my fighters with negotiations and all that. Managers are incredibly comfortable and compelled with giving their top talent to Titan so we can give them this platform.”

Fight promotion is a complex venture, but a majority of startup organizations will fail because of an overly aggressive or overly laid back approach to fighter relations. Aronson feels that Titan FC falls somewhere in the middle. However, he won’t deny his main goal is to give both established and up-and-coming talent a place to showcase their skills.

“I came up with the mantra of ‘fans and fighters first,’” Aronson said. “Part of that was giving the fighters bonuses for every finish, giving them the Zuffa out, and just really creating a professional atmosphere and testing them so they’re ready under the big lights.

“When they go out into the octagon for the first time – the UFC jitters are a real thing and part of that is not knowing if you’ve fully been battle tested. That’s what we do. They get the chance to prove themselves, and the cream will rise to the top.”

According to Aronson, Titan FC plans to hold roughly eight more events this year with 14 tentatively scheduled for 2015. The first of those events takes place Friday with Titan FC 28 at First Council Casino Hotel in Newkirk, Okla.

Despite several injury woes, Aronson is proud of how the card, headlined by light heavyweights Jason Brilz vs. Raphael Davis, has come together. Along the with main event, familiar names such as Dave Herman, Kalib Starnes, Walt Harris, Brock Jardine and more will be in action.

With Aronson’s experience and background in the MMA world, he feels he has built the perfect product for the CBS Sports Network platform. Moreover, he believes his promotion has positioned itself to eventually become the world’s top organization behind the UFC.

“I’m a neurotic owner, and I’m on top of every single fight on the card,” Aronson said. “We’re continually getting better at what we do. I think in not such a short time Titan will be running for the No. 2 and No. 3 promotion in the country.

“It starts with the heart. Every day it gets closer, your heart starts pounding a little more. You’re watching the fruits of your labor come to fruition, and then until the day of the event, you don’t really know what’s going to happen. You’ve done all the right things, you have the right things in place, but everything still needs to play out the right way.”

http://mmajunkie.com

ZUFFA opt out clause  = youre a feeder dude

More like a UFC appreciation league

UFC feeder

What's it matter about the difficulty of fights when the destination remains the same?

Exactly wekka

No matter how you cut it Titan is a feeder league.

Guys go there to get bak in the win column and get a chance bak in ufc.

Really all they are here for is to keep freshly dropped ufc fighters and relevant names out of bellator.

Titan FC and WSOF both need to go away.

C level companies that are adding nothing to the sport.

TeamJohnPerretti wrote:Titan FC and WSOF both need to go away.

C level companies that are adding nothing to the sport.

Same with RFA as well. Feeder leagues to the UFC are bad for the sport.

While I agree that feeder leagues are probably bad for the sport, competing with UFC in the US is impossible in this day and age. The only way these orgs are able to stay afloat is by doing this. If they do this for a while and do it well, eventually they might be able to keep more of their talents. But for now, if they keep their guys in long term contracts, they won't want to sign with them in the first place.

3 years ago, when you were cut from UFC, these vets would be squandered on small regional cards fighting cans. Now they have a place to go and fight good competition and still make some cash. If Bellator can also raise their profile after a few successful seasons on Spike, maybe there will be an out clause for Bellator as well.

Every organization in the world is a feeder league for UFC until someone has the capital to keep their top guys and start stealing away top stars from UFC. Cage Warriors intends to compete with UFC one day when they can afford it. Same with KSW. But for now, letting their top guys go to UFC raises the profile of these companies. It WILL be a foreign company that eventually is able to compete. My guess is in Europe or Russia.

Titan FC is garbage always was and always will be

nathanli wrote:While I agree that feeder leagues are probably bad for the sport, competing with UFC in the US is impossible in this day and age. The only way these orgs are able to stay afloat is by doing this. If they do this for a while and do it well, eventually they might be able to keep more of their talents. But for now, if they keep their guys in long term contracts, they won't want to sign with them in the first place.

3 years ago, when you were cut from UFC, these vets would be squandered on small regional cards fighting cans. Now they have a place to go and fight good competition and still make some cash. If Bellator can also raise their profile after a few successful seasons on Spike, maybe there will be an out clause for Bellator as well.

Every organization in the world is a feeder league for UFC until someone has the capital to keep their top guys and start stealing away top stars from UFC. Cage Warriors intends to compete with UFC one day when they can afford it. Same with KSW. But for now, letting their top guys go to UFC raises the profile of these companies. It WILL be a foreign company that eventually is able to compete. My guess is in Europe or Russia.

I also think the future lies in europe/east europe.

I can't believe so many of you guys want to see MMA promotions close up shop. The more organizations that are holding events that are televised or streamed online the better for both up and coming and veteran fighters so they have places to get fights.  It's also good for the fans so we can see some intriguing matchups that we might not have otherwise seen.  

It doesn't bother me in the least if these second tier, regional or international promotions are willing to let their fighters out of contracts or sell their contracts to take their career opportunities elsewhere. What do you want them all to do- sign these fighters to long term slavery contracts that they can't get out of?

I've personally enjoyed all the WSOF and recent Titan FC cards as much or more than many other promotions cards and made some money betting on some of the matchups that I deemed favorable as well.  The more MMA out there the better as far as I am concerned.

JimGunn wrote:I can't believe so many of you guys want to see MMA promotions close up shop. The more organizations that are holding events that are televised or streamed online the better for both up and coming and veteran fighters so they have places to get fights.  It's also good for the fans so we can see some intriguing matchups that we might not have otherwise seen.  

It doesn't bother me in the least if these second tier, regional or international promotions are willing to let their fighters out of contracts or sell their contracts to take their career opportunities elsewhere. What do you want them all to do- sign these fighters to long term slavery contracts that they can't get out of?

I've personally enjoyed all the WSOF and recent Titan FC cards as much or more than many other promotions cards and made some money betting on some of the matchups that I deemed favorable as well.  The more MMA out there the better as far as I am concerned.

How will Zuffa ever get real competition if all other promotions are their feeder leagues? No promotion should ever get to much power, especially not when it´s runned like the UFC. The sport needs several powerful promotions for the fighters and the fans.

JimGunn wrote:I can't believe so many of you guys want to see MMA promotions close up shop. The more organizations that are holding events that are televised or streamed online the better for both up and coming and veteran fighters so they have places to get fights.  It's also good for the fans so we can see some intriguing matchups that we might not have otherwise seen.  

It doesn't bother me in the least if these second tier, regional or international promotions are willing to let their fighters out of contracts or sell their contracts to take their career opportunities elsewhere. What do you want them all to do- sign these fighters to long term slavery contracts that they can't get out of?

I've personally enjoyed all the WSOF and recent Titan FC cards as much or more than many other promotions cards and made some money betting on some of the matchups that I deemed favorable as well.  The more MMA out there the better as far as I am concerned.

my opinion:you are a Zuffa troll and not a mma fan

There's more competition in the MMA landscape than ever before with promotions from North America, South America, Europe and Asia having shows every week. I've been watching and betting on at least two to three events every week, many of them free on cable tv as well as available through free official online streams, plus certain PPV or iPPV shows. I think that 2014 is the most exciting time to be an MMA fan now that the sport has matured and gone global.

And as far as the guy calling me a Zuffa troll, that's preposterous. I watch and bet on nearly every other regional and international promotion that is broadcast on tv or online, especially if it has odds released. I'll be watching Titan FC 28 tonight on CBS Sports and Bellator on Spike TV and PPV tomorrow. I even watch relatively obscure promotions like Jungle Fights on ESPN 3 or Deportes in Portuguese or Spanish to stay on top of the up and coming fighters.

JimGunn wrote:There's more competition in the MMA landscape than ever before with promotions from North America, South America, Europe and Asia having shows every week. I've been watching and betting on at least two to three events every week, many of them free on cable tv as well as available through free official online streams, plus certain PPV or iPPV shows. I think that 2014 is the most exciting time to be an MMA fan now that the sport has matured and gone global.

And as far as the guy calling me a Zuffa troll, that's preposterous.  I watch and bet on nearly every other regional and international promotion that is broadcast on tv or online, especially if it has odds released. I'll be watching Titan FC 28 tonight on CBS Sports and Bellator on Spike TV and PPV tomorrow. I even watch relatively obscure promotions like Jungle Fights on ESPN 3 or Deportes in Portuguese or Spanish to stay on top of the up and coming fighters.

I don´t think you´re a zuffa troll, I think you´re a true fan but you have to see what all these feeder leagues are doing to the sport. The more UFC feeder leagues, the more power Zuffa will get. Not to mention UFC only represents one version of mma. There´s also ring and other rules/scoring which many of us love.

wsof is the worst thing that has happened.Too much feeder league its bad for the sport. The UFshit   are holding more boring event .

Kingfedor wrote:wsof is the worst thing that has happened.Too much feeder league its bad for the sport.

Probably. Personally I became an mma fan via K-1 and then PRIDE when Cro Cop signed with them. I never really liked the UFC version of the sport, especially not after the Fertitta sisters took over.

Same thing for me. It's more thrilling for me to Watch a Deep event live than a ufc event.

Most sports tend towards monopoly over time for better or worse. Just look at the history of baseball, American football, basketball, hockey and other sports. All now dominated by one organization with a standardized rule set at least in North America due to mergers and companies going out of business over the years.

I like to support alternate promotions with other business models where they exist. This company Battlegrounds MMA is doing something interesting in Oklahoma on June 27th with a one-night eight man welterweight tournament that brings back multiple fights in one night.

One of their execs was on the UG forum today talking about the difficulty of getting a reasonable broadcast or PPV deal done, so hopefully they will find a way to get a deal done and get fans beyond the locals in attendance to support them.

JimGunn wrote:Most sports tend towards monopoly over time for better or worse. Just look at the history of baseball, American football, basketball, hockey and other sports. All now dominated by one organization with a standardized rule set at least in North America due to mergers and companies going out of business over the years.

I like to support alternate promotions with other business models where they exist. This company Battlegrounds MMA is doing something interesting in Oklahoma on June 27th with a one-night eight man welterweight tournament that brings back multiple fights in one night.

One of their execs was on the UG forum today talking about the difficulty of getting a reasonable broadcast or PPV deal done, so hopefully they will find a way to get a deal done and get fans beyond the locals in attendance to support them.

There´s a huge difference between national Leagues like NFL, NBL, NBA, NHL and a private owned company like UFC. There´s not a single owner of these leagues, every team has an owner. A national mma league would have 20 different promotions competing against each other.

I asked the CEO on twitter if theres a bellator get out clause and he didnt reply

so titan only releases for ufc and not bellator? ?? huh ?

can anyone say FEEDER LEAGUE

im sick of friday night axs tv feeder leagues

i want a EVENT! that puts on a fucking STACKED show! full of great fighters. like LEGEND or DREAM!

watching 5 events a week is so unappealing to me that i am so bored of watching generic mma and watching cards for 1 fighter i like who's clearly out matching his opponent.

I dont even watch that much MMA anymore these days. the prestige has gone, the rankings are a fucking joke and theres a biased towards American fighters/ promotions and the UFC