Titan FC featherweight champion Andre Harrison is one of the best 145 pound fighters in the world that is not currently signed by the UFC and he will be making his next Titan FC title defense on March 4 in the co-main event of Titan FC 37.
Harrison (11-0) won the Titan FC featherweight title last year at Titan FC 34 when he defeated Kurt Holobaugh by unanimous decision and he is coming off a successful title defense against former champion Desmond Green. Following the win over Green, many people in the mixed martial arts community believe that Harrison’s next fight would take place in the UFC octagon.
However, Harrison’s next fight will not be taking place in the UFC cage. It will be taking place inside the Titan FC cage when he is challenged by UFC veteran Steven Siler. Many people, including myself have been wondering why Harrison has not been given an offer to fight in the UFC. According to Harrison, he is unsure why the call from the UFC has not come and he wonders if his lack of finishes in his career has something to do with it.
“I am going to say, I don’t know,” Harrison told The MMA Report. “If I had to guess, I would say maybe because my finishing rate is not as high as maybe they would like it to be. But that is the only thing I can come up with. For me personally, I look at it like this. I don’t take easy fights. As you guys clearly see by the record. I have legitimately fought all of the tough people in whatever organization I was in. I did not try to take a chance and try to pad my record to make it look good for the fans.”
“In my eleven wins, five or six people have been on the big stage,” he continued. “Some of the guys have been undefeated at the time when I fought them. I have fought tough people and I guess maybe because I do not have as much finishes as they would like, they might automatically say he is a boring fighter. We don’t want him. Something along those lines or I guess just maybe the time is not right yet for me. Who knows.”
It does bother Harrison that he has not been able to get the finish in a majority of the victories. He admitted to The MMA Report that when he runs on the treadmill, he will watch his previous fights and will critique himself about where a potential finish could have happened. To this point in his career, Harrison has not put out a performance that he is happy with so far, but he is still undefeated with eleven victories.
His next opportunity to get that finish he is looking for will be on March 4 in Ridgefield, Washington when he is challenged by veteran Steven Siler. Since Siler lost to Green for the Titan FC title in 2014, Siler has won five in a row and four of those wins have come by stoppage. For Harrison, he knows that he is facing a fighter with an unique skill set but he does have someone in his camp giving him the looks he needs.
“I do have someone here that I think has a similar style to him,” he explained. “My brother Randy Brown throws a lot and he goes for a lot of guillotines, d’arce chokes and things like that. That kind of gives me that awareness for it. That kind of helps me out in that aspect. But as far as someone that is just like him, not really. Steven is unique and he is good at what he is good at.”
Harrison knows that pressure is the key to victory against Siler. He knows that he needs to fight his fight and not allow Siler to dedicate the fight. He wants to make Siler submissive to his style in the fight and while he would like that stoppage victory, he is not going to force it at Titan FC 37.
“You definitely can’t do something stupid,” Harrison stated. “People are going to say what they got to say regardless. At the end of the day, they are not in there and this is a fight. Me going out there and doing something stupid is only going to leave me hurt. Only the people close to me. My family, friends, teammate and coaches are the only people that care if I get hurt or not. I have to do what I have to do. Am I going to push if I see the opening? Of course. That is the only thing I can do. Am I going to go in there. Chin up and swing for the fences and pray that one lands? Absolutely not.”