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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief
Bellator Featherweight Champion Pat Curran has made two successful title defenses in 2013, defeating Patricio "Pitbull" Freire in a fantastic fight in January before choking out Shabulat Shamhalaev in April. Curran's expecting to return to the cage sometime this fall, but he could be getting back into action prior to that.
In an interview with MMAJunkie.com, Curran said he's hoping to try his hand at boxing, something for which Bellator has apparently given their blessing.
"They're letting me stay active, and this is something I really wanted to do," Curran said. "They're giving me the opportunity to go for it. We're waiting on an opponent right now, but I want to stay active, I want to keep training, and since I'm going to have a little bit of a layoff, I want to jump into boxing and try that out."
"Bellator's cool with it – they're letting me step away from MMA and make my boxing debut, and that says a lot for them."
Part of the reason for the delay is that there are question marks surrounding at least one potential challenger in Daniel Straus, who is dealing with a legal issue from this spring. For now, Curran just wants to make sure he stays fresh.
"I would love to fight on the 'Summer Series,' but I believe you'll see me again in the fall," he said. "I honestly have no idea [when Straus will be ready]. He had a broken hand and had been going through some legal issues, and I'm really not sure where he's at right now, what his state of mind is or what Bellator's thinking [for when the fight will be]."
Penick's Analysis: Though Curran's remained positive about his dealings with Bellator, coming to their defense in the midst of the Eddie Alvarez situation, this still highlights an issue that Bellator's trying to address. Not having enough challengers lined up to keep the Champions busy is an issue, because they want to get their fights and paydays in during the year as well. Not getting those fights means they don't get those paydays, so while Curran is crediting Bellator for allowing him to do that, there still may be an underlying frustration that he's not able to take a fight this summer as he'd like. For now, though, he'll do whatever he can to keep himself active and paid, and if there's an opportunity in boxing, that's where he'll go for now.
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Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
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