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With the addition of Roger Huerta to the lightweight tournament for Bellator Fighting Championship's second season, there was one slot remaining in that weight class. It has now been filled, as the organization announced the signing of Pat Curran to the field.
Curran is the cousin of longtime MMA vet Jeff Curran, and enters this tournament with a record of 9-3. The 22 year old is perhaps most known for his appearance on the TapouT reality show's second season.
“Pat is a very solid addition to our stacked 155 lbs. tournament,” said Bellator founder and CEO Bjorn Rebney in the Bellator release. “Pat comes from MMA royalty and is ready to make his own impact on the sport. He was sought after very aggressively by several other major promotions, so I’m excited for him to be a part of our organization. It will be great to see him fight in front of his many hometown fans next month at the Chicago Theatre.”
The lightweight field is now set with Curran, Huerta, season one runner up Toby Imada along with "former Olympian Ferrid Kheder, undefeated Canadian phenom Mike Ricci, European stalwart Janne Tulirinta, the undefeated Chad Hinton and former All-American wrestler Carey Vanier."
First round matchups are expected to be announced sometime this week.
Penick's Analysis: This is a really good lightweight tournament for Bellator, and an extremely tough field for favorite Roger Huerta to get through to get to his ultimate goal of fighting Eddie Alvarez in Bellator's third season. Curran is a good addition as a young 22 year old fighter getting his chance to put his name on the map against some very good fighters. It's another good move on Bellator's part and the anticipation for season two continues to rise.
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