The first of two trilogy bouts that will take placed during the tenth season of Bellator MMA now has a date as Daniel Straus will defend the Bellator featherweight title against Pat Curran in the main event of Bellator 112 on March 14th.
The fight booking was announced by Bellator MMA in a press release on Monday and the event will come from the Horseshoe Casino in Hammond, Indiana.
Bellator 112 will broadcast live at 9 p.m. ET/ 6 p.m. PT on Spike TV and the preliminary card will be streamed live and free on Spike.com beginning at 7 p.m. ET/ 4 p.m. PT.
Tickets for the event will be on sale Friday, January 17th and can be purchased at Ticketmaster.com or by visiting the Horseshoe Hammond Gift Shop.
“Daniel Straus and Pat Curran are two of the best featherweights on the planet and deserve every ounce and praise and recognition they receive,” Bellator Chairman & CEO Bjorn Rebney said. “Our Featherweight division continues to be the deepest and strongest featherweight division in MMA, and I’m very excited to have this title fight headline a huge night of fights on March 14th from The Horseshoe Hammond.”
Straus (22-4) defeated Curran at Bellator 106 in November to capture the Bellator title and it was his sixth win in a row. Since losing to Curran in 2009 outside of Bellator, he has gone 18-1 and eight of those wins have come in Bellator.
“Whenever you fight, each win means something different and I know this one is incredibly important,” Straus said. “I want to continue to be a top notch fighter, and earn that respect I think I deserve. I know this is going to be a different fight than the last time. Each time we have fought, Pat and myself have been different fighters, and this will fight will be no different.”
Curran (19-5) becomes the second fighter in Bellator history to be granted a title shot after losing a title. Bellator has a championship rematch clause in their rule book and have elected to give Curran an immediate rematch. Prior to losing to Straus, Curran had won six in a row and included a close decision win over Patricio Pitbull.
“I’m just ready to get back into the cage and get another shot at Daniel,” Curran said. “He’s an unbelievable fighter, and I know I have to be better on March 14th. I had a few things going on in my life when we fought in November, but those things are behind me and I don’t like to make excuses. Daniel is going to be a different fighter when we fight again, and so am I. Hammond has been a great fight city for me, it’s where I won the belt for the first time, and it’s where I’m going to reclaim it.”
The Bellator 112 fight card will also feature the beginning of the season ten welterweight tournament with Jon “War Machine” Koppenhaver meeting Nah-Shon Burrell and Fight Master winner Joe Riggs faces Sam Oropeza.
The rest of the welterweight tournament will be announced shortly, along with the complete Bellator 112 fight card.