Aaron Jeffery is set for his biggest opportunity yet, a bout on Dana White’s Contender Series that could land the Canadian on the big stage.
Aaron Jeffery gets ready to take on Brendan Allen as part of Dana White’s Contender Series. The high-stakes middleweight bout goes down on July 16 between two notable regional champions. Allen is the LFA champion and Jeffery won the BTC 185-pound title in Ontario. It’s an intriguing fight featuring some compelling North American prospects. Aaron Jeffery was kind enough to provide some insights to Cageside Press ahead of this fight.
Early Days on the Ontario Circuit
Aaron Jeffery is a native of Tillsonburg, Ontario, and Modern Vision MMA in Welland was one of the earlier gyms he trained at. Outside of his fighting forays to Seaway Mall, Jeffery also trained at Leading Edge and hopped around some gyms early on. Nowadays, Aaron Jeffery is working at some of the top gyms in the nation and to him, it feels like actualizing a dream into reality.
“This is something I’ve been working towards for a long time. Definitely feels different going down to the PI (UFC Performance Institute) and seeing my name on UFC events and stuff like that. It’s cool.”
Aaron Jeffery still finds himself in the Niagara region a fair bit and the vaunted Brock University wrestling team has been working with him. Brock University wrestling is a well-regarded group of killers who push a pace and help Aaron embrace the grind ahead of key bouts.
Aaron Jeffery also has regular sparring partners like Elias Theodorou but also Ergys Sigeta, Todd Stoute, Scott Hudson, Kyran Cameron. This talented pool of prizefighters Jeffery works with is impressive and he’s appreciative of them.
“There’s a bunch of pros at Parabellum. A lot of guys who fought for BTC, all the guys at Tristar, couple of TKO fighters. They’re pretty good sparring partners”
Despite not being as keen on the “white guy screaming” kind of music played in the gym, Jeffery finds tremendous value in training at Parabellum MMA.
Jeffery’s BTC tenure
Parabellum compatriots on the BTC 5 card were all getting W’s. This created tangible energy for Jeffery ahead of his title-winning effort against Jo Vallee.
“It pumps you up when you’re in the changeroom too and your teammates are coming back and everyone’s getting wins. It just fires you up, even more, to go out there and fight.”
Aaron Jeffery has certainly been fighting more intelligently as of late and has been achieving flow state as of late. Jeffery credits experience, having more fights, and the coaching staff at Parabellum as to what got him to that flow state.
Also, the influence of BTC Fight Promotions as a performative platform has been huge. BTC has been making waves on the Ontario scene and Aaron Jeffery is one of the multiple individuals who’ve been signed to UFC straight from the organization. Jeffery speaks of the promotion quite favorably, not just in the context of his own career but for the health of regional MMA altogether.
“It’s huge for sure. MMA was basically dead in Ontario for quite a while. So it’s not just some MMA show in Ontario, they do a really good job with their production quality. The shows they put on are awesome. So I think that brings more eyes to it.”
The Road to the Contender Series
The aforementioned Elias Theodorou was cut from UFC, largely for not having a normatively crowd-pleasing style, in the UFC’s eyes. Also, there was the controversy of Brendan Loughnane not getting a roster spot from his Contender Series performance after shooting for a late takedown. I was curious if these factors would influence Aaron Jeffery and his fight approach but that proved to not be the case.
“if I go out there and fight stupid looking for a knockout and then I get knocked out, that doesn’t work well for me either. I think I’ll do what I always do. Fight smart and the finish will come.”
Aaron Jeffery also always makes sure to give a big shout out to Mom. Mama Jeffery has been an ardent sponsor and supporter. She lets him crash at home, steal some groceries, and writes him a paycheque now and again, per Aaron’s description. With a statement win on July 16, Jeffery could be repaying her and then some.
Aaron Jeffery vs. Brendan Allen will be broadcast on ESPN+. The latest installment of DWCS takes place this Tuesday at 8:00 PM EDT.
