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THE NEW TOURNAMENT KING

In a weekend with very few MMA events on the radar, the fighters at Bellator Fighting Championships 48 had a major opportunity to get noticed. Fighters like Rene Nazare and Seth Petruzelli definitely took that opportunity, but it was Pat Curran who gets the crown. In the second round of his tournament finals fight with Marlon Sandro, Pat Curran delivered a head kick that took his opponent out and the tournament had a champion.

Pat Curran has fought in six total tournament fights in Bellator and won all six, one in the lightweight division and one in the featherweight division. The victory in the lightweight tournament granted him a title fight against Eddie Alvarez, who defeated him by unanimous decision. The victory in the featherweight tournament gives Pat Curran a title shot against Joe Warren in the future. It may be a long wait though, because Joe Warren is competing in the upcoming Belllator Featherweight Tournament in season five.

Let’s travel back to the year 2010 first, because that is where Pat Curran initially made his name in the Bellator Lightweight Tournament of season two. In that tournament, Pat Curran defeated (in order) Mike Ricci, UFC veteran Roger Huerta and Toby Imada (season one lightweight tournament finalist). Then, as I mentioned earlier, Pat Curran dropped a unanimous decision to Eddie Alvarez in his lightweight title opportunity.

Now we flash forward to this past Summer in the Bellator “Summer Series” and Pat Curran again win a tournament. In this featherweight tournament, Pat Curran defeated (in order) Luis Palomino, Ronnie Mann and Marlon Sandro. Again, as I mentioned earlier, this tournament victory gives Pat Curran a shot at Bellator Featherweight Champion Joe Warren.

With two straight tournament crowns achieved by Pat Curran, I think it is safe to call him the best tournament fight in North America. Taking his title loss to Eddie Alvarez aside, Pat Curran is undefeated when competing in tournament fights. Granted, Bellator is really the only national MMA promotion who still holds tournaments, but it is still quite the accomplishment.

Now that Pat Curran has a pretty long wait before he gets a title shot against Joe Warren, I would like to see if he can win a tournament overseas in a promotion like DREAM. Assuming that does happen and he somehow won a tournament there, it would not be out of reach to call the fighter the best tournament competitor of all time. Unfortunately, that is all just a fantasy for now, but it wouldn’t be impossible for something like that to occur.

Either way, at this moment of time in MMA, it is safe to say that Pat Curran is the tournament king…at least in North American MMA.

Follow me on Twitter @DaveTeesMMA

You can contact David Tees at bigteesps3@yahoo.com

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