Daniel Straus will get his long awaited title shot on Saturday night at Bellator 106 in California as he will challenge Pat Curran for the Bellator featherweight title.
Straus (21-4) secured this title shot last year when he defeated Marlon Sandro in the season six featherweight tournament, and this will be his first fight in one year. The American Top Team fighter tweeted on Monday that he was happy to say that it’s finally fight week.
Just like the other two title fights on Saturday’s card, this is also a rematch as they originally met in 2009 at XFO 29. That was the seventh career fight for Straus and he was defeated in the second round by knockout. Since that defeat, he has gone 17-1 with the only lost coming against top Bellator featherweight contender Patricio Pitbull.
While his fight with current was over four years ago, he still remembers the fight but understands that not only is he a different fight now, so is Curran.
“I know what went wrong,” Straus told TheMMAReport.com. “I did not have proper coaching and I actually didn’t have any coaching. I was really new in the sport and I was in there to fight and make some money. It wasn’t something I was taking serious as I am taking now. It wasn’t something that would have grown to something it is now.”
“I didn’t understand cage work. I didn’t even know jiu-jitsu at the time. I did not have a boxing coach at that time. When I fought Pat, I didn’t even have corners with me. There is obviously a different in that fight and this fight. I have took this sport seriously since then. I have grown since then. I have learned jiu-jitsu. I have picked up boxing coaches. I’ve had great sparring and practice partners. I have moved my camp to a good camp. I am sure if you ask Pat, he will tell you the same thing. We are not the same fighters.”
When Bellator released the first promotional video for this event, Straus’ name was not even name in the promo. Of course, he wished that his name would have been in the video since he is fighting for a world title and he has been fighting for Bellator since 2011.
He will enter this fight as the underdog, which is a familiar whole for him. He has been considered the underdog in numerous fights in his career and plans to prove a lot of people wrong on Saturday night.
“I have always been the underdog. If you look back at all my fights, go down the list, you can read some of the people I have fought. I was not supposed to win those fights. With certain circumstances going on, this is just another fight that I am not supposed to win. This is another opportunity that is supposed to pass me up, that’s not going to pass me up.”
“I have a lot of pent up frustration, and not necessarily emotion since I don’t fight with emotion. Being looked over, it’s frustration and I take all of this inside the cage with me and I believe I am a great fighter, person and a lot of people don’t see that in me. They don’t see that in me because of others. I am going to prove a lot of people wrong and I have prove a lot of people wrong, and will continue to do that.”
If Straus is able to defeat Curran on Saturday night, he will become the fourth featherweight champion in Bellator history and would move into second place for the most wins as a Bellator featherweight.