The current 10-fight lineup for Bellator 106 is below. Beware, Joe Riggs — the UFC washout injury curse is coming for you next…
MAIN CARD (Spike TV)
Michael Chandler vs. Eddie Alvarez
Pat Curran vs. Daniel Straus
Muhammed Lawal vs. Emanuel Newton
Joe Riggs vs. Mike Bronzoulis
Mike Richman vs. Akop Stepanyan
PRELIMINARY CARD (Spike.com)
Jesse Juarez vs. Joe Williams
Joe Camacho vs. Cleber Luciano
Brandon Halsey vs. Hector Ramirez
Mike Guymon vs. Aaron Miller
Darren Smith vs. Josh Smith
Of late, much of the big news that comes from Bellator has to do with contract clauses and disputes, lawsuits and high-profile cancellations. Because of that, one can imagine it being difficult for a marquee Bellator fighter like Pat Curran to focus on simply doing his job well.
However, the featherweight champion insists that he doesn’t keep up on other people’s news and stays focused on what matters — fighting. “I don’t like to think about it too much,” he tells CagePotato.
“As a fighter I have a very short career window and I have to make the most of where I’m at right now. I’m on a main stage with a major organization that gives me the opportunity to stay busy and make a pretty decent living.”
Having a tough opponent in front of you can help a fighter keep focused as well and Curran has exactly that this Saturday at Bellator 106 when he defends his belt against Bellator Season 6 tournament winner Daniel Straus.
“He’s very talented and very well rounded,” Curran says of the challenger.
“He throws a lot of straight, long punches and follows up with kicks. He does a very good job mixing up striking with wrestling. He’s good at clinching with guys and wearing them out. I’m definitely not just expecting a striking fight like I had with ‘Pitbull’ [Patricio Freire]. I’m prepared for anything. If it becomes a striking match, I’m ready for it. If it goes to the ground, I’m ready to mix it up.”
(“The goal was to make a good living doing this and I’m already there. I want to see how far I can take it.” Photo via Esther Lin/MMAFighting)
Of late, much of the big news that comes from Bellator has to do with contract clauses and disputes, lawsuits and high-profile cancellations. Because of that, one can imagine it being difficult for a marquee Bellator fighter like Pat Curran to focus on simply doing his job well.
However, the featherweight champion insists that he doesn’t keep up on other people’s news and stays focused on what matters — fighting. “I don’t like to think about it too much,” he tells CagePotato.
“As a fighter I have a very short career window and I have to make the most of where I’m at right now. I’m on a main stage with a major organization that gives me the opportunity to stay busy and make a pretty decent living.”
Having a tough opponent in front of you can help a fighter keep focused as well and Curran has exactly that this Saturday at Bellator 106 when he defends his belt against Bellator Season 6 tournament winner Daniel Straus.
“He’s very talented and very well rounded,” Curran says of the challenger.
“He throws a lot of straight, long punches and follows up with kicks. He does a very good job mixing up striking with wrestling. He’s good at clinching with guys and wearing them out. I’m definitely not just expecting a striking fight like I had with ‘Pitbull’ [Patricio Freire]. I’m prepared for anything. If it becomes a striking match, I’m ready for it. If it goes to the ground, I’m ready to mix it up.”
Curran has indeed managed to develop a well-rounded game in his brief six years in the sport of MMA. He’s come a long way from growing up pretty ignorant of the sport in Florida and having his cousin, UFC veteran Jeff Curran, convince him to move to Northern Illinois with him and give it a shot.
“I had no clue back then,” Curran says. “I kind of went into it blind.”
After high school and going to school to become a paramedic, Curran heeded his cousin’s advice, moved north and began training as much as he could in between odd jobs. Now, he’s one of the best 145 pound fighters in the world and says he’s accomplished what he set out to do, though his hunger remains.
“My goal, overall, is to keep doing what I’m doing,” Pat explains.
“I know I’m still young and haven’t hit my peak yet. I want to keep an open mind, keep developing and keep learning. The goal was to make a good living doing this and I’m already there. I want to see how far I can take it.”
After going 0-2-1 in his first three UFC appearances, McCall won his do-or-die fight against Iliarde Santos at UFC 163, and was looking to make it two in a row against Jorgensen, a former bantamweight contender who was scheduled to make his 125-pound debut. The UFC is currently looking for a replacement opponent for Jorgensen, who was most recently choked out by Urijah Faber at the TUF 17 Finale. Anyway, tough break for Creepy. We’ll update you when we know more.
In other injury news, Bellator 106 has taken another step towards “cursed card” status…
(“Serves you right, you bastard.” — The local homeless drug-addict community. / Photo via MMAJunkie)
After going 0-2-1 in his first three UFC appearances, McCall won his do-or-die fight against Iliarde Santos at UFC 163, and was looking to make it two in a row against Jorgensen, a former bantamweight contender who was scheduled to make his 125-pound debut. The UFC is currently looking for a replacement opponent for Jorgensen, who was most recently choked out by Urijah Faber at the TUF 17 Finale. Anyway, tough break for Creepy. We’ll update you when we know more.
In other injury news, Bellator 106 has taken another step towards “cursed card” status…
Fun fact: Bellator’s current heavyweight champion is a guy named Alexander Volkov; I just learned that on Wikipedia. Come back, Cole — the game needs you.
Check out some great Courtney Prather photos in our gallery after the jump, learn more about her in the BSN profile video below, and follow her life on Twitter and Facebook.
Check out some great Courtney Prather photos in our gallery above, learn more about her in the BSN profile video below, and follow her life on Twitter and Facebook.
On Friday, MMAJunkie’s John Morgan tweeted that the PPV had sold only approximately 1,700 tickets, with another 2,000 on consignment. Matt Roth of MMAMania noted just how dire the situation really is. He pointed out that the venue can hold over 13,000 people, meaning that Bellator would have to sell in the neighborhood of 10,000 tickets in less than 20 days to secure a sellout. That probably isn’t going to happen — not even if Tito Ortiz and Rampage Jackson became giants like in the awful trailer for the PPV.
Bjorn Rebney better be prepared to get a job at his dad’s Winnebago dealership; winter is coming for Bellator. Nobody is going to attend their PPV, and it’s probable that, at an expected price between $35-45, nobody is going to purchase their PPV either. Nobody gives a fuck about their product and their titles are considered worthless. If the UFC stacked three title fights on a card, you’d expect success, even if it were the titles for the three lightest weight classes. But with Bellator, which is offering three title fights on its PPV (although one is a dubious interim title), nobody knows or cares. Hell, we’re a site whose fanbase is comprised pretty much of entirely hardcore fans, and judging by the front page poll, a third of you never even watch Bellator. If they can’t get the hardcores, what fucking chance do they have at getting the casual fans to drop money on this PPV?
Even more concerning is a recent report from MMAPayout about Bellator 102, which UFC “star” Cheick Kongo headlined. The show’s gate was only $73,410.43. A paltry 1,482 people attended the show but nearly half of those tickets (604 of them to be precise) were comped. Now, are you ready to be really amazed? Let’s look at the salaries…
On Friday, MMAJunkie’s John Morgan tweeted that the PPV had sold only approximately 1,700 tickets, with another 2,000 on consignment. Matt Roth of MMAMania noted just how dire the situation really is. He pointed out that the venue can hold over 13,000 people, meaning that Bellator would have to sell in the neighborhood of 10,000 tickets in less than 20 days to secure a sellout. That probably isn’t going to happen — not even if Tito Ortiz and Rampage Jackson became giants like in the awful trailer for the PPV.
Bjorn Rebney better be prepared to get a job at his dad’s Winnebago dealership; winter is coming for Bellator. Nobody is going to attend their PPV, and it’s probable that, at an expected price between $35-45, nobody is going to purchase their PPV either. Nobody gives a fuck about their product and their titles are considered worthless. If the UFC stacked three title fights on a card, you’d expect success, even if it were the titles for the three lightest weight classes. But with Bellator, which is offering three title fights on its PPV (although one is a dubious interim title), nobody knows or cares. Hell, we’re a site whose fanbase is comprised pretty much of entirely hardcore fans, and judging by the front page poll, a third of you never even watch Bellator. If they can’t get the hardcores, what fucking chance do they have at getting the casual fans to drop money on this PPV?
Even more concerning is a recent report from MMAPayout about Bellator 102, which UFC “star” Cheick Kongo headlined. The show’s gate was only $73,410.43. A paltry 1,482 people attended the show but nearly half of those tickets (604 of them to be precise) were comped. Now, are you ready to be really amazed? Let’s look at the salaries.
Kongo made $60,000 for his fight against Mark Godbeer, who made $15,000. So the main event alone accounted for more money than the entire show made in ticket sales. The total salary payout for the entire card, including Kongo and Godbeer, was $308,000.
Subtract the gate from the salaries and you get $234,589.57 — that’s what Bellator lost on the show, or at least that’s the amount of money that Bellator needs to make up through sponsorships and other deals. “Well Viacom is rich and can take a loss on Bellator,” you say? True enough, it seems at first that Viacom could pull off the whole Ted Turner-WCW thing, but Viacom already paid $50 million for an inferior product and a Dana White lookalike. And that product is proving that it’s not financially sustainable. How much longer will Viacom decide to keep the sick man of MMA on life support?
It’s rare, but we’re going to have to agree with Dana White here: There’s no value to Bellator. The promotion still features some insanely talented fighters, but financially, they’re worse in the shit than Enron or WaMu. Get ready for Dana to add another name to the tombstone.
It’s a none-too-subtle reference to how BIG this fight is, at least for Bellator, whose long-term health as a promotion could be strengthened by a respectable buyrate in their first PPV outing. But as a cynical observer, I’m not expecting an epic clash of monsters in the main event. I’m expecting guys like Michael Chandler, Eddie Alvarez, and Pat Curran to steal the show as usual, while two old relics smush up against each other for 15 minutes before slithering back into the dark and mysterious waters of the Pacific Ocean.
It’s a none-too-subtle reference to how BIG this fight is, at least for Bellator, whose long-term health as a promotion could be strengthened by a respectable buyrate in their first PPV outing. But as a cynical observer, I’m not expecting an epic clash of monsters in the main event. I’m expecting guys like Michael Chandler, Eddie Alvarez, and Pat Curran to steal the show as usual, while two old relics smush up against each other for 15 minutes before slithering back into the dark and mysterious waters of the Pacific Ocean.
