Titan Fighting Championship 31 will take place on Halloween night in Tampa, Florida and one of the fights on the preliminary card will feature American Top Team product Hayder Hassan facing Felipe Portela of the Blackzilians.
Hassan (5-1) enters this fight riding a three fight winning streak and this will be his debut in the promotion. Four of his five wins have come by TKO/KO and this will be his first fight since October of last year.
Signing with Titan FC is a blessing for Hassan since he has struggled to get fights, he stated on The MMA Report Live that he is looking to fight beasts and knows Titan FC will be able to give him those fights.
“It ended up being a blessing that Titan ending up giving me a shout,” Hassan said. “I knew once Titan called me and they were looking to sign a multi-fight deal that I knew that I was going to be fighting serious competitors. Guys that are real fighters. I call these other opponents Facebook fighters because they are doing it just for the pictures. They are just doing it to be cool.”
“At this point, I am not looking to fight those guys. I need to be fighting serious competitors. Guys that are trying to make it to the UFC, guys that are close, and guys that are legit athletes, legit fighters. I got matched up with a great opponent in Felipe Portela. He has fought in Strikeforce before and I have fought in Strikeforce before. He has an 8-1 record and stylistically, those are the guy I want to fight.”
“I want to be fighting beast. I am not trying to fight no wannabe fighter. I am trying to fight beast that are coming to ripe off my head and that is what I am going to be doing. I am coming in to ripe off his head and I want the same in return. Come October 31st, Halloween night, I am going to be a nightmare come true.”
When Hassan steps into the cage next Friday night, it will have been 384 days since he defeated Jason Jackson at CFA 12. He has dealt with a hand injury during his time away, which he admitted was a blessing. Hassan is like nearly every fighter that the ultimate goal is the UFC because he got into this sport to be the very best fighter.
“I never got into this sport to be second, third, or a top ranked fighter,” he said. “If I just want to be a top ranked fighter, that means I just got my ass kicked. That means some dude just beat my ass. That is not what I am about. I got into this sport to be the best in the world.”
“I am a hell of an athlete and have explosive power. I take pride in my conditioning and I have knockout power from the first round to the last round. I train for that and I have great wrestling. I have great ground. I have great striking. I prefer to stand, that is my game.”
Hassan is a welterweight and the UFC is filled with ton of exciting and talented fighters. Currently, Johny Hendricks is the top welterweight in the world as he became the UFC champion in March when he defeated Robbie Lawler for the vacant title. Hassan is taking one step at a time but believes he could knockout the current UFC champion.
“For me, I know what I am capable of,” Hassan said. “I see all of these guys that are ranked at the top and in my opinion, I can knock all of them out. I put on an exciting fight and in my opinion, I was breed to be a fighter. It’s in my DNA. My ultimate goal is to be a world champion and I know I can be a world champion.”
“Johny Hendricks is the world champion and in my opinion, I will knock Johny Hendricks head right off his shoulders. That is just my mentality. God willing, I am going to keep training hard and working on achieving my dreams and goals. God willing, I will get the opportunity to show what I am all about.”