The Titan Fighting Championship (www.TitanFighting.com) officially announced on Tuesday that former multi-time UFC heavyweight champion Tim Sylvia has signed on with the promotion to replace Todd Duffee during its scheduled broadcast debut on HDNet (www.HDNetFights.com) set for Friday, January 28.
Sylvia, 28-6, will now face Abe Wagner, 8-2, a veteran from the tenth season of The Ultimate Fighter, in a heavyweight tilt that will headline an HDNet telecast set to emanate live from the historic Memorial Hall in Kansas City.
The move to add Sylvia to the card was necessitated when Titan Fighting CEO Joe Kelly granted Duffee permission to accept a New Year’s Eve showdown in Japan against Strikeforce heavyweight champion and recent K-1 Grand Prix winner Alistair Overeem.
“Titan is a fighter-friendly organization. We treat the athletes that work with us like people and not commodities,” Kelly began. “While we were excited to have Todd be a part of our HDNet debut, we also realize how important the Overeem fight was for him at this stage of his career. I have a long-standing friendship with Todd’s manager, Monte Cox, and Titan’s burgeoning relationship with HDNet is also very important. We didn’t want to stand in the way of this great fight happening on New Year’s Eve with everyone in the States also being able to watch on HDNet.”
By securing Sylvia, Titan was able to ensure MMA fans will still get to view a high-profile main event.
“Tim is a two-time former UFC heavyweight champion and has headlined some of the biggest MMA shows in the history of the sport,” said Kelly. “We’re very fortunate to be able to add him to Titan FC 16 on such short notice. By letting Todd take the fight vs. Overeem, we are allowing ourselves to get to work with Tim on our Jan. 28 show and then still get to book Todd on a future show.”
Sylvia is currently on a four-fight win streak with victories over notables such as Paul Buentello and Polish strongman Mariusz Pudianowski. Both fights were televised nationally on PPV but he will now anchor a free television broadcast on HDNet that will also feature a middleweight encounter between hard-hitting UFC veteran Drew McFedries, 8-6, and rising prospect Gary Tapasua, 6-1. Additional fights will be announced in the coming days.
The live national televised broadcast of Titan Fighting Championship 16 on Jan. 28 will begin at 10:00 p.m. ET/9:00 p.m. CT with the local undercard starting at 8:00 p.m. ET/7:00 p.m. CT. Tickets for the event, which will emanate from the historic Memorial Hall (www.MemorialHallKC.com), are currently on-sale at Ticketmaster.com and the Memorial Hall box office.
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