With days left before a featherweight title match versus Joe Warren, Bellator Summer Series tournament winner Pat Curran (16-4) credits his evolution as a fighter for getting him to this point of his career.
Curran has already battled for a Bellator title, losing to former lightweight champ Eddie Alvarez in April of last year.
He took the lessons of that loss, opted to drop to 145-lbs for the Summer Series and walked away the winner beating Luis Palomino, Ronnie Mann, and Marlon Sandro to earn the $100,000 contact as well as a second shot at Bellator gold.
Speaking on “The MMA Show Podcast with Mauro Ranallo” on Tuesday, Curran discussed his career as a fighter and why he feels that he’s the best fighter at 145-lbs outside of the UFC.
“I’m always evolving as a fighter, from my ground game to my striking,” he said. “I’m young at 24 and I have the attitude that I can always learn. I’m always trying to better myself in that sense. After every fight I look back on the tapes and I improve on the mistakes I see I need to correct.
“I have to give a lot of credit to my cousin Jeff because he introduced me to the sport. I’m originally from Florida, but since I moved to Chicago when I was 20 he threw me right into the fight game. (Now) I’m in the gym training every day around vets like him and Bart Palaszewski. I see how they act and how they train and I look up to them. It makes it a lot easier for me.”
“This weight division is stacked. Everyone is a good fighter,” he said. “The weight class is always evolving, always getting better, and you have to keep evolving to keep on that level.”
Curran faces Warren this Friday (March 9, 2012) in the main event of Bellator 60 at The Venue at Horseshoe Casino in Hammond, Indiana. The main card is set to air live on MTV2 while the prelim card is expected to stream live at Spike.com.