Tag: WEC

UFC on FOX 3 Exclusive: Danny Castillo Talks TRT, The WEC, And His Upcoming Fight With John Cholish


(You see, Shamar, MMA is a lot like dodgeball — the fat guys always get knocked out first.) 

By Jared Jones

After the WEC merged with the UFC in early 2011, most MMA fans were quick to write off the competitors in its lightweight division, claiming that they would simply be outmatched by their UFC counterparts. The success of current lightweight champ Ben Henderson, along with that of guys like Donald Cerrone and Anthony Pettis quickly disproved this notion, but one fighter who has gone almost completely unnoticed at 155 has been that of Danny Castillo. The Team Alpha Male standout’s record currently stands at 3-1 in the UFC, including a win over former number one contender Joe Stevenson in his promotional debut. On the heels of a split decision victory over noted striker Anthony Njokuani at UFC 141 in December, Castillo will be looking to build on his current two-fight win streak against Strikeforce veteran and submission savant John Cholish on the preliminary card of next weekend’s UFC on FOX 3 event. We were recently able to snag an interview with “Last Call,” who dished on everything from TRT to his stance on teammates fighting teammates. Enjoy, and make sure to follow Danny and all his Alpha Male cohorts on Twitter.

CAGEPOTATO.COM: Thanks for interview opportunity, Danny. I was wondering if we could first talk about your UFC 141 victory over Anthony Njokuani. How would you assess your performance in that fight?

Danny Castillo: “I would rate my performance about a D+. It wasn’t the best fight of my career. I was able to get a victory on four weeks of training, and I had just fought prior to that in November against Shamar Bailey. I pretty much went in there with the gameplan to wrestle the whole time; I knew that that was one of the flaws in [Njokuani’s] game. He’s a dangerous fighter. He was one of the most exciting fighters in the WEC, and he’s probably one of the top five strikers inside the UFC. On four weeks notice, I wasn’t prepared to necessarily stand with him or to sit in the pocket against his strengths. His ground game was greatly improved, and now that I’ve done some training with him I understand why; he’s got a phenomenal Jiu-Jitsu coach in Sergio Penha. As far as I’m concerned, I think I won the first and the third round. I probably had about six takedowns throughout the fight, and I think I did enough to win the fight.”

Follow us after the jump for Castillo’s thoughts on the TRT debate, the possibility of fighting a teammate, and more. 


(You see, Shamar, MMA is a lot like dodgeball – the fat guys always get knocked out first.) 

By Jared Jones

After the WEC merged with the UFC in early 2011, most MMA fans were quick to write off the competitors in its lightweight division, claiming that they would simply be outmatched by their UFC counterparts. The success of current lightweight champ Ben Henderson, along with that of guys like Donald Cerrone and Anthony Pettis quickly disproved this notion, but one fighter who has gone almost completely unnoticed at 155 has been that of Danny Castillo. The Team Alpha Male standout’s record currently stands at 3-1 in the UFC, including a win over former number one contender Joe Stevenson in his promotional debut. On the heels of a split decision victory over noted striker Anthony Njokuani at UFC 141 in December, Castillo will be looking to build on his current two-fight win streak against Strikeforce veteran and submission savant John Cholish on the preliminary card of next weekend’s UFC on FOX 3 event. We were recently able to snag an interview with “Last Call,” who dished on everything from TRT to his stance on teammates fighting teammates. Enjoy, and make sure to follow Danny and all his Alpha Male cohorts on Twitter.

CAGEPOTATO.COM: Thanks for interview opportunity, Danny. I was wondering if we could first talk about your UFC 141 victory over Anthony Njokuani. How would you assess your performance in that fight?

Danny Castillo: “I would rate my performance about a D+. It wasn’t the best fight of my career. I was able to get a victory on four weeks of training, and I had just fought prior to that in November against Shamar Bailey. I pretty much went in there with the gameplan to wrestle the whole time; I knew that that was one of the flaws in [Njokuani’s] game. He’s a dangerous fighter. He was one of the most exciting fighters in the WEC, and he’s probably one of the top five strikers inside the UFC. On four weeks notice, I wasn’t prepared to necessarily stand with him or to sit in the pocket against his strengths. His ground game was greatly improved, and now that I’ve done some training with him I understand why; he’s got a phenomenal Jiu-Jitsu coach in Sergio Penha. As far as I’m concerned, I think I won the first and the third round. I probably had about six takedowns throughout the fight, and I think I did enough to win the fight.”

Let’s move on to your upcoming fight with John Cholish at UFC on Fox 3. Do you see yourself as the underdog coming into this fight, and if so, are you the type of fighter who relishes that role?

“I’m not really sure if I like the role of being the underdog, but I’ve been the underdog my whole career so I’m kind of used to it. As far as John Cholish is concerned, I view him as one of my toughest fights to date, mainly because any fight that I have is my toughest fight. For someone who doesn’t get a lot of respect from the UFC, a loss could be detrimental to my career, especially to an unnamed guy like Cholish.”

How do you prepare for, as you said, a relatively unknown guy like Cholish?

“I know he’s a tough dude; he’s a solid wrestler, he comes from a great Jiu-Jitsu background, he’s got great foot work, and his striking doesn’t seem to be that bad. Losing to him would be horrible for my career, so I view it as a really tough fight. I’ve only got footage of two of his fights; one of his fights was two years ago. It seems like young fighters have huge changes in their careers from month to month because they’re still learning and improving. From his fight against Marc Stevens to his last fight in the UFC, I’ve just seen a huge improvement in him. I’m sure the pressure’s on him to step his game up, so I guarantee he’s been training like this is the toughest fight of his career, which it will be.”

Without revealing too much, how do you see this fight going down? 

“I’ve been working a lot on my stand up. I got booed for wrestling in my last fight, so I’d like to repay the fans with a standup fight and sit there and bang with this kid. I think it might be one of his holes in his game. I don’t think he has a lot of power and I think I got a lot of power. I don’t see any knockouts on his record and I have a few knockouts in my career, so I’d like to stand with him. How I see the fight going is [Cholish] attacking my legs for fifteen minutes and me stuffing the takedowns, you know, just sprawlin’ and brawlin’.”

Granted you are successful, are there any specific opponents at 155 that you’d like to face next?

“There’s no one in particular that I’d like to face, but I’ve got four losses to UFC opponents, and two of them are in the top ten. I’d like to have those losses back; a lot of those losses were earlier in my career and I feel like I’m a completely different fighter. I know my identity, so getting those fights against those opponents I lost to would be good for me. That would be a fight that I’d be fired up for, but as far as I’m concerned, any fight that pushes me up the lightweight division is a fight that I want.”

Being one of the select guys brought over from the WEC, do you feel any additional pressure going into a fight, like you have something to prove on behalf of the promotion that you built your name upon? 

“I can’t speak for the rest of the guys, but for me there was a lot of pressure. My first fight was against one of the UFC vets in Joe Stevenson. Fighting a tough veteran that I had been watching before I even thought about getting in the cage was really tough for me. Not only being my first fight in the UFC and all that pressure mounting up, but fighting a tough veteran like [Joe], the pressure was really high. But I was able to pull out the victory against a really tough dude, so I was happy with that and I’m happy with the way that my career has gone so far in the UFC.”

Dana White has been adamant in the past about the willingness of teammates to fight one another. Guys like Jon Fitch, however, have repeatedly stated that they would rather retire than fight a teammate. Where do you stand on this issue?

“Fortunately, in team Alpha Male there’s only a couple lightweights, and none of them are in the UFC, so I don’t have to really worry about that. I have some training partners that I’m good friends with, like Nate Diaz, and I don’t see myself fighting them. I know the hot topic is ‘teammates should be able to fight teammates,’ and Dana White hates when teammates don’t fight each other, but I view my friendship with Nate and his brother and everyone at Cesar Gracie’s, you know, I value that friendship more than a few thousand dollars.”

While we’re discussing some of the current hotbed issues in MMA, what are your thoughts on the TRT controversy that has seemed to divide fans and fighters alike? 

“I think it’s terrible. I’ve never cheated at anything in my life, sports-wise at least, and I don’t see myself doing that. I’m 32 years old, I know a lot of guys that are doing HGH and testosterone, it seems like everyone in the sport is doing something. I’m just not that guy. I’ve been able to train my butt off and get great results in terms of being strong and not having to use performance enhancing drugs. I’m totally against it. I think random testing for steroids would be the way to go and I’m all for it. You can test me year round and I have nothing to worry about, and I think that’s how the fighters I fight against should be as well. It’s only fair.”

You hold a victory over Dustin Poirier, who could be looking at a future title shot at 145 is he is able to defeat Chan Sung Jung. How would you asses the current featherweight landscape and who do you think presents the biggest challenge to Jose Aldo? 

“Dustin Poirier is a tough, young, hungry kid. I fought him earlier in his career; it’s a big win and I’m happy to have it. I would say I’m friends with Dustin after the fight. My girlfriend and his wife are friends as well, so I like the kid and I know how hungry he is. As far as him getting a title shot, I think it’s deserved, but in terms of anyone that can beat Jose Aldo; the only person in the world that can beat Jose Aldo is Chad Mendes. It’s unfortunate that we didn’t really get to see the fight play out; Chad was taking him down, he grabbed the fence, and right after that Chad got knocked out. I think that takedown could have changed the whole dynamic of the fight, but we’ll never really know. I think Chad’s the number two dude at featherweight, and the number three, four, and five guys, not sure who those guys are, but I think Chad’s light-years ahead of them and he’ll just smash anyone of those dudes.”

Thanks for the interview opportunity. 

“Thanks for having me. After I beat this dude up, I’d definitely like to come on again.”

Make sure to swing by CagePotato this Saturday, as yours truly will be liveblogging all the UFC on FOX 3 action, starting at 8 p.m. ET/ 5 p.m. PT.

Oh, The Irony: Chael Sonnen Blasts Disingenuous Fighters on ‘UFC Tonight’ [VIDEO]

(Props: youtube.com/fueltv)

Chael Sonnen is back with more surreal statements in his latest Chael’s Corner segment for Fuel’s UFC Tonight. Here a sampling of Sonnen’s sincere and deep thoughts:

“Fighters have recently seen it as their quasi-job to continually put out misinformation.”

Recently? Naw that’s nothing new, Chael. Fighters have never had a problem, say, screaming in pain and tapping out to a submission, and then claiming that they did not. Heck, some guys have even gone on pr campaigns questioning the professionalism of refs who save fighters who ask for fights to be stopped. Maybe it doesn’t count as misinformation if the obvious truth is caught on live national television.

“[Some fighters] just refuse to answer a question, head on.”

True. Like, for example, answering questions with non-sequitor quotes ripped off from western movies and pro wrestling promos.

“There’s a tremendous difference between what fighters say vs. what fighters mean.”


(Props: youtube.com/fueltv)

Chael Sonnen is back with more surreal statements in his latest “Chael’s Corner” segment for Fuel’s UFC Tonight. Here a sampling of Sonnen’s sincere and deep thoughts:

“Fighters have recently seen it as their quasi-job to continually put out misinformation.”

Recently? Naw that’s nothing new, Chael. Fighters have never had a problem, say, screaming in pain and tapping out to a submission, and then claiming that they did not. Heck, some guys have even gone on pr campaigns questioning the professionalism of refs who save fighters who ask for fights to be stopped. Maybe it doesn’t count as misinformation if the obvious truth is caught on live national television.

“[Some fighters] just refuse to answer a question, head on.”

True. Like, for example, answering questions with non-sequitor quotes ripped off from western movies and pro wrestling promos.

“There’s a tremendous difference between what fighters say vs. what fighters mean.”

I would imagine so. Like when Chael said on the radio that Lance Armstrong gave himself cancer by using steroids when, in fact, he must have meant that he himself was using performance enhancers in an unsanctioned manner while scamming people out of their homes with his day job.

“If a guy hits you hard and it hurts, is your ego so small that you can’t pay him a compliment?”

Agreed. Heck, we’d go so far as to say that should go for guys who lose by submission. I mean, what kind of insecure fighter would say that they actually won a fight like that instead of complimenting their opponent and trying to improve?

Our favorite quote from this week’s Chael’s Corner is what he ends with.

“I don’t need to come to the media and lie.”

We’ll just let that one stand on its own.

–Elias Cepeda

Jens Pulver Knocked Out, Suffers 10th Loss in Last 14 Fights

Filed under: MMA Videos, UFC, WEC

Former UFC lightweight champion Jens Pulver suffered a knockout loss on Friday night at the first Resurrection Fighting Alliance event in Kearney, Nebraska, making it the 10th time Pulver has lost in his last 14 fight…

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Former UFC lightweight champion Jens Pulver suffered a knockout loss on Friday night at the first Resurrection Fighting Alliance event in Kearney, Nebraska, making it the 10th time Pulver has lost in his last 14 fights.

This time it was an opponent named Tim Elliot who beat Pulver, and after the fight Pulver wrote on Twitter that he realized he didn’t look good in the cage on Friday night.

“Sorry to all who support me, I half assed the training and got wrecked deservedly so,” Pulver wrote.

The 37-year-old Pulver looked OK in the first round, but in the second Elliot backed him up with a combination of punches, hit him with a front kick and then finished him with a knee to the chin. Pulver slumped face-first to the canvas after that knee, and referee Big John McCarthy stepped in to stop the fight.

Pulver was cut by the WEC last year after losing five fights in a row, the last four coming by first-round stoppage. After taking a big step down in competition and fighting on regional cards, Pulver managed to win three fights this year, but the knockout loss to Elliot raises questions about whether he should be competing at any level.

The RFA card also featured the light heavyweight debut of former UFC heavyweight Gilbert Yvel, who won by first-round TKO.

 

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Dana White: Strikeforce is Staying On Showtime; Announcement Will Come Next Week



(Apparently now the Zuffa is going to have to start trying again with Strikeforce.)

During today’s pre-UFC 140 press conference and media scrum UFC president Dana White revealed that his *other* MMA promotion will indeed be sticking around on Showtime and that he will lead the organization as it makes some changes in 2012.

“[Strikeforce is] staying, and hopefully I’ll have all the information for you next week,” White said. “Just sit and wait and watch what I do. Trust me, it’s going to be just fine. Like I said last time I talked to you guys about this, I’m getting into this, and I’m going to handle it. Watch and see. We’ll see what happens. I know I keep saying this every week, but that deal should be wrapped up any day now, and then I’ll make the decisions on who goes where and what’s going to happen. So we should know hopefully by Monday.”



(Apparently now the Zuffa is going to have to start trying again with Strikeforce.)

During today’s pre-UFC 140 press conference and media scrum UFC president Dana White revealed that his *other* MMA promotion will indeed be sticking around on Showtime and that he will lead the organization as it makes some changes in 2012.

“[Strikeforce is] staying, and hopefully I’ll have all the information for you next week,” White said. “Just sit and wait and watch what I do. Trust me, it’s going to be just fine. Like I said last time I talked to you guys about this, I’m getting into this, and I’m going to handle it. Watch and see. We’ll see what happens. I know I keep saying this every week, but that deal should be wrapped up any day now, and then I’ll make the decisions on who goes where and what’s going to happen. So we should know hopefully by Monday.”

White hinted to MMAJunkie that Strikeforce could be run under a similar model to the WEC, which was once considered a feeder league for the UFC.

“[The WEC] did work. We had a great television deal with the WEC. It was very successful,” he pointed out. “The fights were awesome. There were people that loved watching the WEC fights. It absolutely worked.”

Dominick Cruz Ready for Third Fight With Urijah Faber

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There’s a school of thought that Urijah Faber was declared the No. 1 contender in the bantamweight division following his victory at UFC 139 not because he has really earned another shot at champion Dominick Cruz, but because Faber is a big name who has drawing power.

But Cruz doesn’t see it that way.

In an appearance on The MMA Hour, Cruz said he believes Faber demonstrated by defeating Brian Bowles at UFC 139 that he deserves another shot at the title. And Cruz said he believes the result of the next Cruz-Faber fight is going to be the same as the result of the last Cruz-Faber fight: Cruz will get his hand raised.

“The way that he beat Bowles, I think it warrants a title fight for him,” Cruz said of Faber. “That’s fine with me. I’ve got no problem. It was going to be him or Bowles, I knew that coming into that fight, and I was ready to take on either one of them. He beat somebody in the Top 5 of the division. That’s the first time he’s been matched up with someone in the Top 5 of the 135-pound division.”

Cruz said he was impressed with Faber, who submitted Bowles in the second round on Saturday night.

“I thought he looked good. He did exactly what he was supposed to do to be the No. 1 contender. He finished Bowles quickly and put a beating on him,” Cruz said. “I’m excited for the fight to come.”

One option for the UFC would be to have Faber and Cruz coach against each other on the upcoming season of The Ultimate Fighter, then meet in the Octagon in the summer. Cruz likes that option a lot.

“I haven’t heard anything about it yet, but I think me and Faber both campaigned for the idea before our last matchup, and I think a lot of people were interested in it and want to see us both as coaches,” Cruz said. “I think it’d be an awesome opportunity. I’d love to do it.”

Faber beat Cruz in 2007, handing Cruz the only loss of his MMA career. But Cruz, who wasn’t even a full-time fighter until he got that fight, says the first Faber fight barely registers as he considers how the two of them match up.

“He beat me fair and square that fight but I don’t look at myself anywhere near where I was then,” Cruz said. “My last fight with Faber I feel I fought the best Faber there’s been so far and I beat him. So I know I’m going to do it again.”

Cruz had some interesting observations about the rest of the bantamweight division, saying he anticipates the 20-year-old Michael McDonald fighting for the bantamweight belt in the future. And he said that Faber’s friend and training partner Joseph Benavidez has been put in a difficult position because the biggest fight Benavidez could get would be a fight with Faber — except that the two of them won’t fight each other.

“Faber is holding back Benavidez now and they’re supposed to be teammates,” Cruz said. “By not fighting Faber he’s holding himself back.”

Cruz said he can’t punch yet after having hand surgery several weeks ago, so it will be a while before he’s ready for the Faber fight. But whenever the fight happens, Cruz is confident in the outcome.

“I think there’s a lot of reasons he lost that fight,” Cruz said. “He wasn’t able to get in his zone and get comfortable and do what he wanted to do. I was able to keep him out of his rhythm and that’s going to be the case in any fight I have with him. He’s never going to know what’s coming or when it’s coming.”

 

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There’s a school of thought that Urijah Faber was declared the No. 1 contender in the bantamweight division following his victory at UFC 139 not because he has really earned another shot at champion Dominick Cruz, but because Faber is a big name who has drawing power.

But Cruz doesn’t see it that way.

In an appearance on The MMA Hour, Cruz said he believes Faber demonstrated by defeating Brian Bowles at UFC 139 that he deserves another shot at the title. And Cruz said he believes the result of the next Cruz-Faber fight is going to be the same as the result of the last Cruz-Faber fight: Cruz will get his hand raised.

“The way that he beat Bowles, I think it warrants a title fight for him,” Cruz said of Faber. “That’s fine with me. I’ve got no problem. It was going to be him or Bowles, I knew that coming into that fight, and I was ready to take on either one of them. He beat somebody in the Top 5 of the division. That’s the first time he’s been matched up with someone in the Top 5 of the 135-pound division.”

Cruz said he was impressed with Faber, who submitted Bowles in the second round on Saturday night.

“I thought he looked good. He did exactly what he was supposed to do to be the No. 1 contender. He finished Bowles quickly and put a beating on him,” Cruz said. “I’m excited for the fight to come.”


One option for the UFC would be to have Faber and Cruz coach against each other on the upcoming season of The Ultimate Fighter, then meet in the Octagon in the summer. Cruz likes that option a lot.

“I haven’t heard anything about it yet, but I think me and Faber both campaigned for the idea before our last matchup, and I think a lot of people were interested in it and want to see us both as coaches,” Cruz said. “I think it’d be an awesome opportunity. I’d love to do it.”

Faber beat Cruz in 2007, handing Cruz the only loss of his MMA career. But Cruz, who wasn’t even a full-time fighter until he got that fight, says the first Faber fight barely registers as he considers how the two of them match up.

“He beat me fair and square that fight but I don’t look at myself anywhere near where I was then,” Cruz said. “My last fight with Faber I feel I fought the best Faber there’s been so far and I beat him. So I know I’m going to do it again.”

Cruz had some interesting observations about the rest of the bantamweight division, saying he anticipates the 20-year-old Michael McDonald fighting for the bantamweight belt in the future. And he said that Faber’s friend and training partner Joseph Benavidez has been put in a difficult position because the biggest fight Benavidez could get would be a fight with Faber — except that the two of them won’t fight each other.

“Faber is holding back Benavidez now and they’re supposed to be teammates,” Cruz said. “By not fighting Faber he’s holding himself back.”

Cruz said he can’t punch yet after having hand surgery several weeks ago, so it will be a while before he’s ready for the Faber fight. But whenever the fight happens, Cruz is confident in the outcome.

“I think there’s a lot of reasons he lost that fight,” Cruz said. “He wasn’t able to get in his zone and get comfortable and do what he wanted to do. I was able to keep him out of his rhythm and that’s going to be the case in any fight I have with him. He’s never going to know what’s coming or when it’s coming.”

 

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Jeff Curran Says It’s ‘Put Up or Shut Up’ Time in His Return at UFC 137

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It’s been an interesting road, but after nearly eight years, Jeff Curran is back in the UFC.

Curran will return to the promotion at UFC 137 next week against former bantamweight title challenger Scott Jorgensen in Las Vegas in a bout that was moved to the main pay-per-view card on Friday. It’s another shot with Zuffa and the UFC that Curran said he begged for, and a fight against a top contender that he jumped at the chance to get.

On Monday’s edition of “The MMA Hour,” Curran told host Ariel Helwani that he’s always been physically ready – but now he believes he’s more mentally ready than he ever was before and it’s time to “put up or shut up.”

“Everything’s going great,” Curran said. “It’s kind of like I knew where I need to be to be able to focus on my fighting, and (the past personal problems) seem like such a long way away sometimes. Everything is revamped and going smoothly in my personal life, everything’s going smoothly in my gym, and I couldn’t ask for a better situation.”

Curran (33-13-1) took a short-notice fight against future UFC welterweight champion Matt Serra at UFC 46 in January 2004. He lost a unanimous decision, but went on to a nine-fight winning streak outside the promotion. After a loss in his lone fight for Pride, the Illinois-based fighter went on another winning streak, one that got him a shot at the WEC not long after it had been purchased by Zuffa.

After a win in his first fight for the promotion since WEC 4, Curran got a shot at featherweight champion Urijah Faber and was submitted in the second round. He said that loss started a domino effect for him, mentally, and after four straight losses – all to WEC champions or title challengers – he was cut by the WEC in August 2009.

“Physically, I was prepared as ever for all my fights in the WEC,” Curran said. “For Urijah, I just got caught. After that, it was a spiral in my mental focus. I don’t know what made them turn the table and give me (another) opportunity. But at this point, it doesn’t really matter. I’ve got to get out there and prove myself.”

Curran has won four of five fights since his last loss in the WEC, a split decision loss to Takeya Mizugaki. His one loss in that stretch came in a Bellator event in Chicago, not far from the gym he runs in the city’s northern suburbs that is the training home to the likes of former UFC lightweight champ Jens Pulver and UFC featherweight Bart Palaszewski, who also will fight at UFC 137.

But Curran said even at the Bellator fight, in April 2010, he wasn’t where he needed to be mentally for Bryan Goldsby, who beat him in a unanimous decision. He said there had been a temptation to sit back and wait for the WEC to call (before it merged with the UFC), since matchmaker Sean Shelby had said they might have a fight for Curran later in the year.

WIth his cousin Pat making his Bellator debut on the same show – the start of what would be his improbable run through the lightweight tournament to a $100,000 pay day and an eventual shot at Bellator lightweight champ Eddie Alvarez – Curran said he felt pressure to take the fight, even though he wanted to pull out.

“We decided I needed to make some money – I was having some financial problems,” Curran said. “And part of getting Pat into the lightweight tournament was having both cousins on the same show in Chicago. I kinda stepped in and took one for the team, even though I tried to pull out of the fight. I just didn’t want to make up a lie. I was asking to be released and they wouldn’t’ do it because I was the main event in Chicago. I was going to pull an injury card, but I didn’t. So I just went forward with it. That’s one fight I regret taking – not that Goldsby didn’t earn the win.”

Even two wins in his own XFO promotion after the loss to Goldsby had him unsure what his next step might be. He beat Billy Vaughan in May, but said that a loss to him likely would have meant his retirement from the sport.

“I was training hard, I was in great shape,” Curran said. “I thought if I can’t beat these guys, nothing against them, I don’t deserve to be in the UFC. I thought I needed to finish Billy Vaughan to get back in the UFC, but I think that was enough for them to say, ‘Jeff looked good, he was back meaning business.'”

And now that he’s back, fighting at bantamweight where he believes he has his best shot instead of featherweight or lightweight, Curran said he has to take advantage of what might be his last opportunity in the world’s biggest promotion.

“I think about it every second of the day,” Curran said. “I was just at a Keith Urban concert and there were 20,000 people there, and I just sat there with chills and thought, ‘The pressure.’ I’m not intimidated by it. I’ve been in all the big shows. But what it all encompasses is that I finally fought my way back, and it’s either put up or shut up – embarrass myself or get out there and do my thing.”

 

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It’s been an interesting road, but after nearly eight years, Jeff Curran is back in the UFC.

Curran will return to the promotion at UFC 137 next week against former bantamweight title challenger Scott Jorgensen in Las Vegas in a bout that was moved to the main pay-per-view card on Friday. It’s another shot with Zuffa and the UFC that Curran said he begged for, and a fight against a top contender that he jumped at the chance to get.

On Monday’s edition of “The MMA Hour,” Curran told host Ariel Helwani that he’s always been physically ready – but now he believes he’s more mentally ready than he ever was before and it’s time to “put up or shut up.”

“Everything’s going great,” Curran said. “It’s kind of like I knew where I need to be to be able to focus on my fighting, and (the past personal problems) seem like such a long way away sometimes. Everything is revamped and going smoothly in my personal life, everything’s going smoothly in my gym, and I couldn’t ask for a better situation.”


Curran (33-13-1) took a short-notice fight against future UFC welterweight champion Matt Serra at UFC 46 in January 2004. He lost a unanimous decision, but went on to a nine-fight winning streak outside the promotion. After a loss in his lone fight for Pride, the Illinois-based fighter went on another winning streak, one that got him a shot at the WEC not long after it had been purchased by Zuffa.

After a win in his first fight for the promotion since WEC 4, Curran got a shot at featherweight champion Urijah Faber and was submitted in the second round. He said that loss started a domino effect for him, mentally, and after four straight losses – all to WEC champions or title challengers – he was cut by the WEC in August 2009.

“Physically, I was prepared as ever for all my fights in the WEC,” Curran said. “For Urijah, I just got caught. After that, it was a spiral in my mental focus. I don’t know what made them turn the table and give me (another) opportunity. But at this point, it doesn’t really matter. I’ve got to get out there and prove myself.”

Curran has won four of five fights since his last loss in the WEC, a split decision loss to Takeya Mizugaki. His one loss in that stretch came in a Bellator event in Chicago, not far from the gym he runs in the city’s northern suburbs that is the training home to the likes of former UFC lightweight champ Jens Pulver and UFC featherweight Bart Palaszewski, who also will fight at UFC 137.

But Curran said even at the Bellator fight, in April 2010, he wasn’t where he needed to be mentally for Bryan Goldsby, who beat him in a unanimous decision. He said there had been a temptation to sit back and wait for the WEC to call (before it merged with the UFC), since matchmaker Sean Shelby had said they might have a fight for Curran later in the year.

WIth his cousin Pat making his Bellator debut on the same show – the start of what would be his improbable run through the lightweight tournament to a $100,000 pay day and an eventual shot at Bellator lightweight champ Eddie Alvarez – Curran said he felt pressure to take the fight, even though he wanted to pull out.

“We decided I needed to make some money – I was having some financial problems,” Curran said. “And part of getting Pat into the lightweight tournament was having both cousins on the same show in Chicago. I kinda stepped in and took one for the team, even though I tried to pull out of the fight. I just didn’t want to make up a lie. I was asking to be released and they wouldn’t’ do it because I was the main event in Chicago. I was going to pull an injury card, but I didn’t. So I just went forward with it. That’s one fight I regret taking – not that Goldsby didn’t earn the win.”

Even two wins in his own XFO promotion after the loss to Goldsby had him unsure what his next step might be. He beat Billy Vaughan in May, but said that a loss to him likely would have meant his retirement from the sport.

“I was training hard, I was in great shape,” Curran said. “I thought if I can’t beat these guys, nothing against them, I don’t deserve to be in the UFC. I thought I needed to finish Billy Vaughan to get back in the UFC, but I think that was enough for them to say, ‘Jeff looked good, he was back meaning business.'”

And now that he’s back, fighting at bantamweight where he believes he has his best shot instead of featherweight or lightweight, Curran said he has to take advantage of what might be his last opportunity in the world’s biggest promotion.

“I think about it every second of the day,” Curran said. “I was just at a Keith Urban concert and there were 20,000 people there, and I just sat there with chills and thought, ‘The pressure.’ I’m not intimidated by it. I’ve been in all the big shows. But what it all encompasses is that I finally fought my way back, and it’s either put up or shut up – embarrass myself or get out there and do my thing.”

 

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