International Master in Sambo, Frodo Khasbulaev, is fresh off an ass whooping performance over Mike Richman, bringing him to a nine fight win streak. Now he’s coming to dethrone the Bellator featherweight champion, Pat Curran, and extend his win streak by one, and there’s a good chance that he pulls it off.
By no means and I undermining the champ, after all, it took him all of two and a half minutes to put Shahbulat Shamhalaev to sleep. Many thought that Shamhalaev wouldn’t not only be Curran’s greatest challenge, but the one to take his belt. The former champion in Muay Thai, kickboxing and Karate, is threat to any fighter in the featherweight division, but still not as deadly as Khasbulaev.
The Russian may be well known for his grappling, but he possesses proficient striking that has overcome fighters with a plethora of knockouts victories. This makes Khasbulaev a dangerous fighter regardless of where the fight goes, so Pat Curran won’t have the obvious advantage on the ground like he didn’t against Shahbulat Shamhalaev.
After watching both Curran and Khasbulaev disposed of their recent opponents with genuine ease, it will be interesting to see what game plans they will utilize on one another. I won’t say that one fighter has an edge over the other, but make no mistake, Khasbulaev will be the greatest threat to Curran’s title.
– Ryan “Fight Freek” Poli
@FightFreek