Ed Soares: Titan Fighting Championship merger with Resurrection Fighting Alliance 'pretty much a done deal'

In August, it was announced that famous mixed martial arts (MMA) manager Ed Soares was going to be named the new President of Resurrection Fighting Alliance (RFA), an up and coming MMA promotion based out of Nebraska.

Soares is apparently wasting no time getting things off the ground, announcing in an interview on "Inside MMA" that RFA will be merging with fellow regional MMA promotion, Titan Fighting Championships.

The move will be a joint effort to combine talent and the respective strengths of each organization. Though the merger has not been finalized just yet, it is expected to come to fruition soon, after all the t's have been crossed and the i's are dotted.

Here's what Soares had to say regarding why the move was made, and what it will mean for both promotions:

"In principle, we pretty much have the deal done. We're working out the last, final details, but, pretty much, we've merged with Titan. Both of us now will be fighting under one umbrella, which is the RFA. Joe Kelly's coming on board, and he's gonna be the Vice President, and we're really looking forward to working together. We're really looking forward to this next year and putting on some great events with AXS TV."

Soares credits the team of people around him for being able to effectively juggle all the balls that he currently has in the air.

He's confident that he'll be able to handle the constraints of managing his stable of popular Brazilian fighters, as well as to efficiently run RFA in a way that will help to grow the sport he loves:

"I'm very busy, but on the management side of my business, I have my partner, Jorge [Guimaraes], who's just a phenomenal business partner and a close friend. All the guys that work with us, like Derrick and Nathan, our team of people, they really do a good job of managing the day-to-day for our management companies. I realized that there's just an abundance of talent out there, nowadays, and every day, it just seems like the talent pool's getting bigger and bigger, and, unfortunately, it seems like the opportunity pool is getting smaller and smaller. So, I was very interested in crossing over the line on the promoter side, just to be able to offer more opportunities to these upcoming fighters, and hopefully be able to get them into the big show and to get involved and help the sport grow."

The next RFA event will be Resurrection Fighting Alliance 4, and it will take place in Las Vegas, Nevada on Nov. 2, 2012. The main card is scheduled to be aired LIVE on AXS TV, and will feature a main event of former UFC fighters with Tyson Griffin vs. Efrain Escudero. The co-main event will see UFC lightweight Anthony Njokuani's younger brother Chidi Njokuani taking on Phil Dace. Also, Anthony Pettis' younger brother Sergio Pettis, who is currently undefeated, will be squaring off against Jimmy Jones.

For more information on this card on other RFA news, check out the RFA home page here.