Pat Curran wasn’t on Bellator’s radar until a fighter pulled out of the MMA organization’s season two lightweight tournament. Even then, CEO Bjorn Rebney was hesitant. It took repeated calls from Curran’s cousin, UFC veteran Jeff Curran, to even earn him some consideration.
“He’s like [10-3] and he’s never really beaten anybody,” Rebney said, explaining his thinking. “But Jeff kept calling me and saying, ‘I’m telling you, this kid is a monster.’”
Rebney was hesitant, but gave Curran a shot anyway replacing Mike Corey – in what he thought would be a showcase fight for Mike Ricci, a blue-chip prospect and training partner of UFC superstar Georges St-Pierre. Curran knocked him out in the first round.
“He had this huge introduction coming into this fight, this huge walkout,” Curran said. “It’s funny how things turn out.”
Curran followed that up by beating former UFC lightweight contender Roger Huerta in the semifinals and Bellator stalwart Toby Imada in the finals. And this wasn’t even his weight class. Curran is a natural lightweight.
Fast forward a little less than three years and Curran is defending his featherweight title against Patricio “Pitbull” Freire at Bellator’s debut show on Spike TV on Thursday night in Irvine, Calif.
“Now he’s like the second-ranked featherweight in the world,” Rebney said.
That is the beauty of Bellator’s tournament structure – you can go from unknown to star in three months. Curran has won two of them. After losing his lightweight title fight to Eddie Alvarez in a three-round war, he won the summer series featherweight tournament last year with a head kick knockout of Marlon Sandro. Last March, he knocked out Joe Warren to win the 145-pound title.
“That was the biggest part of my career,” Curran said of the tourneys. “I’ve learned so much. I’ve jumped levels so much during my training camps during those tournaments. You have no other choice but to get better.”
Curran is now one of the premier fighters Bellator is carrying into its deal with Spike TV. He’s been featured on commercials and Spike’s “Bellator 360” highlight show. The best part is, at 25, Curran hasn’t even hit his prime yet.
It’s amazing to think just three years ago he was supposed to be fodder for Ricci, who Rebney called “the next GSP.”
“That’s the sport,” Curran said. “Anybody can win. It just takes one punch. Bellator gave me that opportunity and look where I am now.”