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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief
Bellator is going to get their marquee lightweight matchup, after all. Despite being defeated in the semifinals of season two's lightweight tournament by Pat Curran, Roger Huerta will face off against Bellator Lightweight Champion Eddie Alvarez this October, according to a report from MMAJunkie.com.
Alvarez was supposed to defend his title against Curran, the season two tournament winner, but Curran has come up with an injury.
Huerta now steps in for a three round non-title fight on October 21, per the report. The event will be Bellator 23, and will take place from the Kansas City Power & Light District in Missouri.
Huerta signed with Bellator last year after his contract was up with the UFC. He lost his last UFC fight in a toughly contested decision against Gray Maynard, and then won his quarterfinal tournament bout against Chad Hinton before the decision loss to Curran.
Alvarez won Bellator's first season lightweight tournament, submitting Toby Imada in 2009 to capture the title. He defeated Josh Neer during the second season by standing rear naked choke in a non-title feature bout.
Bellator's third season kicks off tonight on Fox Sports Net.
Penick's Analysis: This is an awesome fight for Bellator, and one people wanted to see when Huerta signed with the organization. It's unfortunate for them to lose the title fight for now, and Huerta will provide a tough test for Alvarez, but when it comes to a non-title replacement this is as good as it gets. Huerta's profile got raised with his street fight incident last week, and Bellator is striking with this booking. But at the same time, a lot of people felt Huerta should have taken the decision against Curran, so he's getting his shot at Alvarez anyway. I'm definitely looking forward to this one.
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Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
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