Tonight at 9:00 p.m. ET on Spike TV, Bellator 112 will get underway and be headlined by Daniel Straus and Pat Curran for the third time, with the Bellator featherweight championship hanging in the balance. Live stream the action beginning at 9:00 p.m. for free, as well as the prelim fights at 6:45 p.m. ET by clicking this link.
This fight will complete a trilogy of exciting bouts between Straus and Curran, and to make weight Straus had to chop off his signature locks after missing the 112-lb. limit by half a pound.
Curran topped Straus by TKO in the duo's first showdown at Xtreme Fighting Organization 29 in April of 2009, and then Straus returned the favor at Bellator 106 in November of 2013. The second fight featured a major improvement from Straus, who dominated the fight and made tonight's matchup questionable.
Straus wasn't overly humble about taking out Curran either. "I'm damn good at what I do," Straus said. "No matter who says it, who likes it, who doesn't like it-I'm really good at what I do, and I'm going to continue being good at what I do."
Straus believes that he's underrated despite his impressive showing at Bellator 106, and is out to prove he belongs among the elite. "I don't think I'm getting that respect," Straus said. "If you think he [Curran] is a top-10 guy and I beat him, then I think I should be [a top-10 fighter]. It's kind of funny how things go. You beat one of the highly ranked guys and you're still not a highly ranked guy. You kind of sit back in the shadows.
"I beat a guy [in Pat Curran] that some people thought was one of the top three fighters in the world," Straus said. "That didn't put me in the top three. I have a better record than he does. It's frustrating, but it doesn't bother me at all. It is what it is, and I'm just going to keep proving what I have to prove to be a better fighter."
Curran, on the other hand, was battling depression when he last faced Straus and entered the cage expecting to lose. "As a fighter, that's not the way you're supposed to think," Curran said. "But I just sucked it up and went in there and did the best I could. But I wasn't in that fight. I was miserable and didn't want to be there anymore."
Now though, Curran is insisting those issues are behind him and he's ready to reclaim the top spot in the featherweight division. "It's mainly about me coming in there a completely different fighter," Curran said. "I want to show the world that I have fixed my problems and that this is the new Pat Curran."
FULL FIGHT CARD:
Bellator Featherweight World Title Fight:
Daniel Straus (22-4) vs. Pat Curran (19-5)
Bellator Welterweight Tournament Opening Round:
Andrey Koreshkov (14-1) vs. Nah-Shon Burrell (11-3)
Sam Oropeza (10-2) vs. Cristiano Souza (7-0)
Jesse Juarez (21-8) vs. Adam McDonough (9-0)
Preliminary Card:
Nathan Coy (13-4) vs. Paul Bradley (21-5) -Bellator Welterweight Tournament Opening Round:
A.J. Matthews (6-2) vs. Belal Muhammad (4-0)
Diego Marlon (24-8) vs. Lloyd Carter (5-5)
Darrion Caldwell (3-0) vs. Lance Surma (2-0)
Derek Loffer (6-2) vs. Bobby Reardanz (8-12)
Jason Guida (19-27) vs. Anthony Gomez (7-2)
Daniel James (debut) vs. Erick Correa (2-0)
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