Whitney ‘sick of’ fighting for $3,000 when ‘tomato cans’ in the UFC make more

Andrew Whitney got past the first round of Titan FC’s bantamweight tournament, which will decide the division’s next champion, with relative ease. He knocked out former title challenger Anderson Dos Santos in the second round at Titan FC 40 earlier this month.

Whitney is confident heading into his bout against Farkhad Sharipov, which will serve as the tournament finals. The Titan FC bantamweight championship is only an arm’s reach way for the 32-year-old.

While still one fight away from having the Titan FC belt wrapped around his waist, he, in fact, already views himself as the titleholder. That’s how confident he is.

“I’m actually the most winningest bantamweight in the history of Titan,” Whitney told BloodyElbow.com’s The MMA Circus. “I have the most knockouts in the history of Titan. Ricky Simon, Anderson Dos Santos — all those guys are chasing me right now. Even though I don’t have the belt, I am the current champ. I’m the underground king of that organization. I am the titleholder. So these guys are coming to see me. All these guys that have fought one or two fights in Titan, and they get a shot at the king? I don’t think so. Titan does what they want to do, but I do what I want to do, too. I’m actually the underground king right now of the division.”

Whitney views his upcoming bout as one step closer to the UFC. It’s just a stepping stone for him. He doesn’t care about the Titan FC title, especially considering the fact that he doesn’t imagine he’ll get paid more as the organization’s champion.

“It doesn’t up my pay,” he said. “It’s not like I’m going in as a Bellator champion and I’m making 40/40. They’re still going to start me out as a basic fighter. Hardware or no hardware, I don’t care. I don’t care about the belt. I’m just looking for another win.”

Whitney, who’s currently riding a four-fight winning streak, believes a UFC call is already long overdue, and is quite surprised the UFC matchmakers haven’t come calling.

“I should be a UFC fighter now,” he said. “Let me tell you something about my record. I don’t fight these chumps. I’m fighting top prospects from the UK, top prospects from Brazil. I see these guys getting in the UFC beating guys 4-3, 3-7, these chumps. I’m more worthy to fight any guy in the UFC than a lot of these guys. I don’t know why I haven’t gotten my phone call yet — I know it’s a political game.

“I hope [my next fight] seals the deal. I thought beating Dos Santos was gonna seal the deal. And we’ll see. It might’ve sealed the deal. I might get called for a late replacement. But if I don’t, I’ll go in and take Sharipov’s head off, and I hope that seals the deal.”

Whitney believes he can be a Conor McGregor-esque superstar. If and when he is signed to the UFC, he sees the entire state of …

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