Aaron Jeffery (left) beside fellow Canadian fighter Mandel Nallo (centre) and Steve Simms. Photo by Elyane Rogier
By Andy Cotterill
When I asked Aaron Jeffrey about his experience so far in the days leading up to his Bellator 282 debut at the Mohegan Sun Casino in Connecticut on Friday night, he talked about how well he has been taken care of and how professional the whole thing has been.
But then the Niagara Top Team Middleweight originally from Tillsonburg, Ontario made me doubt myself for a moment when he had this to say about the media’s questions during the previous day’s media obligations.
“I fucking complain all the time about people asking me the same questions.”
MM-eh – What kind of questions do they ask you?
“Just kind of the usual shit you know,” He replied. “Like, how’s your camp? How was Sanford? What do you think your opponent? What’s it like finally being one of the big promotions? Just the typical stuff.”
In an attempt to save myself somewhat I took the offensive and struck first. “So, the same questions that I’ll be asking you.”
This elicited a laugh from him, and he acknowledged that there are only so many questions that can be asked.
MM-eh – So what can I ask you that’ll set set this apart…that will make it different?
Jeffrey took a long pause before answering, “That’s a good question. Because I don’t know.”
In another attempt at lame humour, I said that I could always ask him about his mullet, and at this he actualy lit up with enthusiasm.
“Dude. I’m the mullet guy. They asked me a million times about it today. I’ve got my mullet logo on the Bellator website.”
Jeffrey was referring to his Bellator website fighter page right after he was signed on which was posted only a black and white silhouette with a mullet and mustache that was easily recognizable as him.
“Yeah, it’s hilarious. So it’s like some younger Bellator PR guys, and then they texted me like a couple days later and said, hey I hope you don’t mind that we put this on the website, and I was like, no, that’s fucking hilarious and sweet. And they’re like, okay, good. Thank God. We didn’t want you to hate us.”
Now it came time to ask Jeffery one of the typical media questions, hopefully with a tiny bit of nuance.
MM-eh – So tell me about your mindset going into this fight, and specifically, is this fight any different than any other fight, or are they all the same regardless of the size and cachet of the organization?
“I think they’re all the same.” He replied immediately.
“I really do. Once you’re in there, the doors closed and you’re not thinking, Oh my God this is Bellator or anything like that. It’s just it’s the same shit every time. It’s just you and one other person. That’s it.”
The other person in this particular case is experienced Brazilian Fabio Aguiar, who sports an 18-2 record versus the 11-3 of Jeffery.
Jeffery revealed that he thinks Aguiar is a good, tough, well rounded fighter, but not as good, tough, or well rounded as he is.
“I think I can beat him anywhere. I think my striking is more crisp than his, I think if he tries to wrestle me I can stuff his takedowns… I think I can reverse them and end up on top. He’s gonna try and push me on the fence and I think I can beat him up there.”
This is the first fight of a multi-fight contract with Bellator, and Jeffery is eager to see what this stability can bring to his career trajectory, and so are we.
Aaron Jeffery will be cornered by Chris Prickett, Lyndon Whitlock, and Jake Sage.