Pat Curran had never met his older cousin until he traveled from Florida to Chicago to attend his wedding at age 17.
At that point, though, many mixed-martial-arts fans knew Jeff Curran, who by his 2005 nuptials had already been a professional fighter for seven years.
Soon the fight veteran would put his cousin on a pro-MMA path that eventually led him to tonight’s Bellator 21 main event and a lightweight-tournament finale with Toby Imada.