Pat Curran lost his featherweight title on 132 days ago when Daniel Straus defeated him by decision at Bellator 106 and he will have a chance to regain the title tonight in the main event of Bellator 112 at the Horseshoe Casino in Hammond. Indiana.
The former champion has admitted this week in various media interviews that he was dealing with depression before his fight against Straus in November.
While he was going through this, he did not question his abilities as a fighter but he was wondering if he wanted to continue as a fighter.
“I wasn’t questioning my ability as a fighter, because I know I can be the best if I truly wanted to, but it’s just whether I wanted to proceed as a fighter,” Curran said. I did a lot of fighting with myself over that and it could explain why I was the way I was in that fight. Even after the fight, I was still struggling with that decision but I’ve recently realized this is what I want and need to do. I need to get that loss off my record and come back stronger than ever. Straus was on his game – that was the best performance he ever had and he still couldn’t finish me. It’s going to be a different fight this time around.”
When it came to the actual fight against Straus, the turning point of the fight came when Curran landed an illegal strike. Straus would be able to continue, but Curran struggled to mount any offense for the rest of the fight. He felt bad about landing the illegal knee and it was tough for him to re-watch the fight because of this strike.
Curran was not very surprised by anything that Straus did in the their last fight, with the exception of the patience that Straus showed. Curran admits that Straus was smart to get the fight to the fence to shut down some of his offensive game. While he doesn’t want to take anything away from Straus, he is upset with how he performed in their rematch.
“I’m honestly really pissed off at myself for the way I performed against Straus. I’m not taking anything away from him – he’s obviously a great fighter and had a great gameplan. I’m intent on getting that fight off my mind and proving to myself and everyone else that I’m a better fighter than that. That means a lot to me because I put too much time into this sport. It’s really eating me up inside. So people should expect to see an animal in the cage.”
When fighters meet for a second or third time, the winner is always the fighter that makes the better adjustments from the previous meeting. While Curran is not sure what Straus will bring to the cage tonight, but he knows this will be a different fight than their fight back in November.
“It’s hard to say what I expect out of Straus this time,” Curran stated. “He might try to change things up or keep it the exact same. I don’t know. A fight’s a fight and I just wasn’t myself last time; I wasn’t in it. It’s going to be a different fight. But the biggest factor is that I’m pissed off right now. I’m pissed at myself. My best performances come out when I have that fuel, that anger inside me. I didn’t have it in that last fight but everyone will see it in this one, and the difference it makes.”
“If you saw our last fight, Straus had his best performance and he still couldn’t put me away. He couldn’t submit me, he couldn’t knock me out and he couldn’t finish me. He just laid on top of me and went the distance. Now that I have my fire back, my motivation and desire back … he’s not gonna touch me. He’s not going to just lay on top of me and hold me down. I’m going to be a lot angrier and more aggressive. You’re going to see a different Pat Curran.”