Photo via The Scrap
Aaron Jeffery Talks CFFC 105, Middleweight Title Defense, and More
Aaron Jeffery defends his CFFC middleweight championship against Rex Harris at CFFC 105. This goes down on January 29th and emanates from 2300 Arena in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania with the broadcast available via UFC Fight Pass.
I spoke with Jeffery ahead of this bout and excerpts from our chat are below.
Enjoying the tighter timeline leading into this fight
“Everything is going good. It was a bit of a shorter notice fight than I’m used to. But I’m always in camp. I’m always training hard. It’s kind of refreshing actually. To not have to think about a certain date, place, and guy for too long. Just signed the contract, kind of tightened a couple of things up, and get in there.”
Great work Aaron Jeffery has gotten in recently at Niagara Top Team as well as past and future efforts with Syndicate MMA
“Training is always good at NTT. We got a solid group of guys here. Like you said, I was down there at Syndicate for a while. Put in some good work there this summer. Just sticking at home for this camp. Then possibly back down to the States later this year.”
Aaron Jeffery
Recent training alongside Contender Series opponent Caio Borralho and the unique camaraderie that exists when you share the cage with somebody
“Yeah, it’s cool, man. I mean, like martial arts is always about respect, right? So there’s definitely no bad blood after a fight for me anyways. Most of my opponents have all been cool. Caio my last opponent was super respectful. And I mean, if there’s another 185’er in the area and he is good and experienced and wants to train, why not right? It’s just gonna make me better.”
Danny Rubenstein managing Jeffery now and how that relatively newer partnership has been so far
“It’s been good, man. I met Danny down in Vegas. He’s obviously very established in the MMA world. Got connections with UFC, Bellator, all the big promotions. He’s got a lot of big-name fighters. And it’s unfortunate the way my last fight went. I’m kind of in a tough spot in my career now. So I just kind of needed someone that could pull some more strings for me. So Danny was a good fit.”
CFFC
What would represent the next step for Aaron Jeffery in lieu of his Contender Series bids not working out
“I don’t know, man. It’s a good question. UFC might be off the table for a bit. Unfortunately, that’s what it sounds like. But maybe Bellator. Maybe pick up one or two more wins regionally. See what Bellator or one of the other bigger promotions is saying.”
“Just name-value and pay, man. The regional scene doesn’t pay anything. I’ve been doing this for a while. It’s like I’ve got to start making some money at some point.”
What books are catching Aaron Jeffery’s fancy as of late
“That’s a good question. I can’t think of any off the top of my head. But one thing I started doing last year that I’m going to keep doing this year, I like to buy books faster than I can read them. So I have a library of unread books. Whenever I finish one, I can go look at my library. I have a ton of different topics. So whatever I’m in the mood for, I can just choose. Instead of having only one new book and that’s my only option. I have probably 15 or 20 books right now.”
“Always nonfiction. I like to educate myself on different things. But like science stuff, biology, nutrition, health, that kind of stuff.”
CFFC 105
If Jeffery and Syndicate MMA sparring partner Sean Strickland would ever start a podcast together
“I think we’d get canceled pretty quickly. I think he just got his Instagram account taken down. He’s got to start from scratch. I don’t think the social media heads appreciate Sean Strickland in the same way we do.”
Jeffery’s pristine mullet and if a hair versus hair match is the gimmick
“Could be. I did the mullet ratings for Fight Pass. So maybe we could start up something like that again.”
Parting thoughts for Aaron Jeffery
“Thanks to you again for having me on the show. I appreciate you keep having me back on. And yeah, everyone check out the fight January 29th on UFC Fight Pass.”
