Two tournament titles and the Bellator featherweight championship: that’s quite the impressive resume for newly crowned champion Pat Curran.
What makes these accolades even more impressive is the fact that he’s only 24 years old.
After running ragged …
Two tournament titles and the Bellator featherweight championship: that’s quite the impressive resume for newly crowned champion Pat Curran.
What makes these accolades even more impressive is the fact that he’s only 24 years old.
After running ragged through the Bellator Season Two Lightweight Tournament, Curran fell short against top-ranked Eddie Alvarez in his first quest for a belt. That decision loss prompted Curran to drop to the featherweight division, and he hasn’t looked back.
Curran topped a number of big names as he captured the 145-pound Bellator Summer Series Tournament crown, including former Sengoku champion Marlon Sandro and well-rounded Brit Ronnie Mann.
But he wasn’t done there.
Utilizing his size advantage and his ever-evolving striking attack, Curran refused to succumb to Joe Warren’s Olympic-level wrestling in their title tilt. Following a pair of closely-contested rounds, Curran unloaded on Warren and scored a devastating third-round knockout to claim Bellator gold.
Having accomplished so much so quickly, the question must be posed: where does Curran go from here?
The answer is nowhere. Curran will be the new poster boy of the promotion with Bellator’s ironclad contracts preventing him from signing with the UFC.
His first defense will come against Brazilian Patricio “Pitbull” Freire, another featherweight tournament winner. However, should he get past that challenge, few remain for him outside of the UFC.
Curran’s mix of solid grappling, scrambling ability and powerful striking make him a dangerous opponent for anyone. Now he’ll have to get used to having a target on his back.
Georges St-Pierre continues to work his way back to the UFC from his current rehabilitation stint, which has kept him out of action since last year.The UFC welterweight champion released a second video in “Road to Recovery” series on YouTube, which fea…
Georges St-Pierre continues to work his way back to the UFC from his current rehabilitation stint, which has kept him out of action since last year.
The UFC welterweight champion released a second video in “Road to Recovery” series on YouTube, which features GSP training and doing multiple knee-related exercises.
St-Pierre has been on the sidelines since October after suffering a knee injury, which forced him to pull out of bouts aganst Nick Diaz and Carlos Condit.
The champion has stated he is making good progress in his rehabilitation, and that he hopes to return to face interim champ Carlos Condit in November this year.
In a recent Twitter post, Gilbert Melendez’s manager Cesar Gracie said the Strikeforce lightweight champion is confirmed to fight on the next Strikeforce card, scheduled for May 19, but an opponent has yet to be named.But if Team Gracie Jiu-Jitsu get t…
In a recent Twitter post, Gilbert Melendez‘s manager Cesar Gracie said the Strikeforce lightweight champion is confirmed to fight on the next Strikeforce card, scheduled for May 19, but an opponent has yet to be named.
But if Team Gracie Jiu-Jitsu get their wish, it could be one of the top contenders at 155 pounds.
“@ufc Gil is fighting May 19th. I hope Penn or Pettis,” Gracie wrote.
Melendez is one of the few Strikeforce standouts remaining, and it is likely that he moves to the UFC at some point within the year. However, the idea of seeing either BJ Penn or Anthony Pettis drop to maintain some star power in the division is questionable.
Penn is still in retirement following his loss to Melendez’s fellow teammate, Nick Diaz, at UFC 137, and Pettis is riding momentum after coming off a knockout victory over Joe Lauzon at UFC 144.
It is possible to see Pettis earn himself a title shot after being denied his opportunity at a title shot against UFC lightweight champion Benson Henderson, considering he feels he is deserving of one, but it isn’t worth demoting himself to a second-tier organization.
Melendez’s next possible opponent could be a rematch against Josh Thomson but not many fans feel Thomson is a worthy opponent from a business perspective.
But if Pettis or any 155-pound challenger is willing to make the transition to Strikeforce for a title shot, it could provide for some intriguing matchups in the future.
The Ultimate Fighter has been a UFC staple since Season 1 launched in 2005. Fighters come from all over for a shot at making it to “the big show.” Aside from the contestants, one of the biggest attractions to the show is the coaching matchups. The seas…
The Ultimate Fighter has been a UFC staple since Season 1 launched in 2005. Fighters come from all over for a shot at making it to “the big show.”
Aside from the contestants, one of the biggest attractions to the show is the coaching matchups. The season-long friction and animosity between the opposing coaches only adds more hype to their eventual end-of-season battle inside the Octagon.
Currently, there are two cycles of TUF in production. The Ultimate Fighter: Brazil—coached by Wanderlei Silva and Vitor Belfort—is wrapping up now and will hit television airwaves in March.
The Ultimate Fighter Live—coached by Urijah Faber and UFC bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz—began airing last Friday.
Through the years we have seen a number of intriguing fights between the coaches. Some have been great battles—Chuck Liddell vs. Randy Couture, Matt Hughes vs. Matt Serra—while others have been huge disappointments—Quinton “Rampage” Jackson vs. Rashad Evans.
What stands out about these three is that the winning coach on TUF also won the coaches’ fight. One must then ask, is there a correlation?
There have been 14 seasons of The Ultimate Fighter, four of which did not feature a fight between the coaches after the season ended. Season 1 featured Hughes and Rich Franklin, who compete in different weight classes.
Season 4 broke from the usual format by selecting current and prior UFC fighters to compete for a chance at a title shot, with a number of UFC vets serving as guess trainers—Franklin and Georges St-Pierre to name a few.
Tito Ortiz had to leave Season 11 early due to neck surgery and did not complete the season or face opposing coach Chuck Liddell.
The contestants from Season 13 were coached by Brock Lesnar and Junior dos Santos; however, Lesnar was forced to withdraw from the fight due to another bout with diverticulitis. In the remaining 10 seasons, the winning coach went on to win the coaches’ battle seven times:
Michael Bisping defeated Jason Miller (there were two weight classes in which they split winners)
While conventional wisdom says that fighters make fights, one cannot help but take notice to this interesting statistic: The winning coach also wins the coaches’ battle 70 percent of the time.
What could it be? Is the ability to game plan for a fight? Is it the ability to analyze fighters and their strengths/weaknesses? Is it just dumb luck?
The upcoming coaching pairs both have a history. Dominick Cruz and Urijah Faber have fought twice before with Cruz winning the most recent fight.
Faber is the only man to defeat Cruz and feels he actually won their most recent battle. Faber is still a dominant force in mixed martial arts, but could “The Dominator” have his number?
In the other matchup, Wanderlei Silva will face Vitor Belfort. Silva lost to Belfort in his 1998 UFC debut in 44 seconds. Silva would go on to have a great career and become a legend in the PRIDE organization. However, he is coming into the twilight of his career and conceivably only has a few fights left.
If Silva and Faber lead their respective teams to victory, will that be a prelude to certain victory?
Follow Walt J. as he gives his no-holds-barred opinions on the NFL, MMA and other sports topics on his blog, “Live From AREA 49.” You can also follow him on Twitter @area49sports.
UFC interim welterweight champion Carlos Condit appeared on HDNet’s Inside MMA Monday night to reiterate that he has no interest in fighting anyone besides UFC welterweight title holder Georges St-Pierre in 2012. “The bottom line is, I have …
UFC interim welterweight champion Carlos Condit appeared on HDNet’s Inside MMAMonday night to reiterate that he has no interest in fighting anyone besides UFC welterweight title holder Georges St-Pierre in 2012.
“The bottom line is, I have my heart set on fighting Georges St-Pierre,” Condit told hosts Kenny Rice and Bas Rutten.
“If Georges is back this year, even if it’s…later…even if it’s November, which is what’s being thrown out there, I’m waiting for Georges and that would be my next opponent.”
A former WEC welterweight champ, “The Natural-Born Killer” also went to say that if he fights someone other than GSP, it’s not going to be until 2013.
Interestingly, Condit said the higher-ups of the UFC have not been pressuring him to defend the interim title he won against Nick Diaz at UFC 143.
“The UFC, I think, is looking at it from a business standpoint. They want to see the bigger fight, and basically, the biggest fight is me versus Georges St-Pierre,” Condit stated matter-of-factly.
“That’s basically the sentiment I’ve gotten from Dana and some of the other UFC brass. I would love to fight some of these guys. There are some great contenders.”
“Jake Ellenberger’s had a phenomenal run. Martin Kampmann just had a great fight, and I would love to avenge that loss, but Georges St-Pierre is one of the top stars in the sport, and a win over him would catapult me to a different level,” Condit added.
After losing a close split decision to Martin Kampmann in his UFC debut at UFC Fight Night 18 in April 2009, Condit went on to win a controversial split decision over Jake Ellenberger at UFC Fight Night 19 in September 2009.
Ellenberger has recently made it clear that he feels Condit is ducking him, but that does not seem like it is going to be enough to coax the interim champ into signing up for a rematch.
Forrest Griffin’s self deprecating sense of humor is legendary. Thankfully for MMA fans, it’ll be on display tonight on FUEL TV in a conversation segment featuring Griffin and one-time rival Stephan Bonnar.Griffin and Bonnar are famous not only for the…
Forrest Griffin‘s self deprecating sense of humor is legendary. Thankfully for MMA fans, it’ll be on display tonight on FUEL TV in a conversation segment featuring Griffin and one-time rival Stephan Bonnar.
Griffin and Bonnar are famous not only for their epic scrap on The Ultimate Fighter season one finale, but also for their humorous and unique personalities, which will be conducive to a memorable conversation on FUEL’s UFC program, UFC Ultimate Insider.
On tonight’s episode, the two men will partake in a characteristically comical and off the wall conversation that highlights such topics as their legendary fight, Jon Jones, and actor Mark Hamill.
Concerning the UFC light heavyweight champion, Griffin was optimistic that the pairing of him and Bonnar could beat the champ.
“I think the two of us whoop his ass every time, nine times out of 10 at least,” he said.
Griffin’s wit is sure to be on display during the full segment on FUEL, as it was during the preview when Mark Hamill—who is most famous for playing Luke Skywalker in the Star Wars films (although some might say he’s equally famous for playing the Joker in the Batman animated series)—came up in the conversation.
“I am Mark Hamill, and [The Ultimate Fighter] was my Star Wars,” said Griffin.
The talk between the two fighters in one that’s sure to live up to it’s “off the wall” namesake. Both men have quite the sense of humor and are more silver-tongued than most MMA fighters can dream of being.
The MMA world is truly fortunate to have such programming as well as such athletes that can step back and laugh at themselves. Be sure to catch the full conversation on UFC Ultimate Insider at 10:30 pm EST on FUEL.
Two tournament titles and the Bellator featherweight championship: that’s quite the impressive resume for newly crowned champion Pat Curran.