Lex McMahon has long since made his name as one of the top agents in mixed martial arts, with a roster that includes the likes of Rory MacDonald, Brandan Schaub, Jake Shields, Stefan Struve, and Liz Carmouche.
Now, McMahon will try his hand at the promotional game. McMahon announced on Monday's edition of The MMA Hour that he has joined the Titan Fighting Championships as Chief Operating Officer. He'll work alongside TFC CEO Jeff Aranson.
My job is to make the machine work, to make sure all that Jeff's vision is being executed on, McMahon said. That's kind of at the end of the what my role is.
Making the jump from working as a fight manager to promotion is far from unheard of - Dana White was Tito Ortiz and Chuck Liddell's manager before becoming UFC president. It's a bit more rare for someone to hold both positions, but that's been done as well. Most notably on the current scene, Black House's Ed Soares runs the successful Resurrection Fighting Alliance out of Los Angeles.
Of course, the potential for conflict of interest is obvious. But McMahon says the way to handle such potential situations is through open dialogue and transparent business dealings.
The best thing you can do is be 100 percent transparent, McMahon said, and put a team in place which will work through issues. At no point are you self-serving. You try to do your deals at arm's length, and keep the best interest of both the entity as well as the athlete. If there's ever any questions, you sit down and work through it.
With that, McMahon sets about to work in his new gig. The first card he'll oversee is TFC 29 on Aug. 22 in Fayetteville, N.C., which includes Ben Saunders vs. Matt Riddle and Efrain Escudero's TFC debut.
With a roster full of recognizable veteran names and a television clearance on the CBS Sports Network, McMahon sees a promotion which isn't going to attempt to challenge the UFC's dominance in the market, but can give the established names their platform for their second chance at the big stage.
Jeff's taken a regional brand in Titan, and expanded it to a national and soon international brand, McMahon said. Getting a great deal with CBS Sports, signing some great athletes. He's doing all the right things.
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