Bellator 95: Curran vs Shamhalaev - FW World Championship Discussion

Strauss is a cool dude, it sucks he had to get injured. Will Bellator do a rematch with Pitbull in the meantime then?

AudaxSmoke wrote:Strauss is a cool dude, it sucks he had to get injured. Will Bellator do a rematch with Pitbull in the meantime then?

I surely hope so. Pitbull deserves another shot.

A long wait is about to get longer for Bellator's Season 6 featherweight tournament winner, Daniel Straus.

Straus (21-4 MMA, 7-1 BFC) broke his hand during a training session and has been forced to withdraw from a title fight against featherweight champion Pat Curran (18-4 MMA, 8-1 BFC) at Bellator 95, which takes place April 4 at Revel Resort & Casino in Atlantic City, N.J.

Multiple sources close to the event passed along the news to MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com). A replacement search is currently underway for Straus, who most recently appeared this past October in a non-tourney fight.

Facing UFC vet Alvin Robinson, Straus earned a second-round submission win. The Cincinnati native, who now works with American Top Team in Coconut Creek, Fla., expressed a desire to keep busy as a queue of contenders lined up for Curran's title.

The line again got moving this past month when Curran defended his title with a win over Patricio "Pitbull" Freire at Bellator 85.

It's not the first time injuries have delayed the featherweight division. Curran suffered a broken orbital bone that delayed his meeting with Freire.

A standout wrestler, Straus made it to the finals of Bellator's Season 4 tournament before losing to Freire. He then entered the Season 6 competition and beat Jeremy Spoon, Mike Corey and Marlon Sandro to win the competition and claim a $100,000 payout.

http://www.mmajunkie.com/news/2013/02/broken-hand-cancels-daniel-straus-title-fight-with-pat-curran-at-bellator-95

already posted:
https://global-mma.forumotion.com/t5728-official-bellator-curran-vs-straus-championship-disscusion

ZuffaKiller wrote:already posted:
https://global-mma.forumotion.com/t5728-official-bellator-curran-vs-straus-championship-disscusion

lol..........funny guy

Is Hawn going back up to Welter, Karo going down to Light or is this a catchweight?

MR.WILLIE wrote:

ZuffaKiller wrote:already posted:
https://global-mma.forumotion.com/t5728-official-bellator-curran-vs-straus-championship-disscusion

lol..........funny guy

lol.....

MR.WILLIE wrote:

CDF47 wrote:^Hawn should school Parisyan. Haven't seen him in a while.

if happens???? hawn will retire karo..im not exagerating

Yup...Hawn will smash him.

If Karo cuts to 155, he might be serious about his career again.

Otherwise, Hawn will win this pretty easily.

With Daniel Straus (21-4 MMA, 7-1 BFC) sidelined by a broken hand, his title fight with Bellator featherweight champion Pat Curran (18-4 MMA, 8-1 BFC) will instead go to recent tournament winner Shahbulat Shamhalaev (12-1-1 MMA, 3-0 BFC).

Bellator Chairman and CEO Bjorn Rebney today announced the change.

The title fight headlines Bellator 95, which takes place April 4 at Ovation Hall at Revel in Atlantic City, N.J. It's part of the Spike TV-televised main card, which follows prelims on Spike.com.

MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) first passed along news of Straus' injury earlier this week.

Shamhalaev, a Russian knockout artist, breezed through a recent Season 7 tournament by stopping Cody Bollinger, Mike Richman and – after a few delays – Rad Martinez. That earned him a title shot, though initially he was slated to get his after Straus got his.

Since his pro MMA debut in 2009, the former world muay Thai champ and national kickboxing champion has posted eight knockouts in 12 career wins.

He'll fight just 42 days after his second-round TKO of Martinez, which took place this past week at Bellator 90. It initially was slated for December but was pushed after Shamhalaev became ill on fight night and due to subsequent scheduling conflicts.

Curran, meanwhile, is coming off a split-decision win over Patricio "Pitbull" Freire at Bellator 85 this past month. He won the featherweight title 11 months ago with a brutal knockout of then-champ Joe Warren. That came after winning a featherweight tournament with wins over Luis Palomino, Ronnie Mann and Marlon Sandro.

Curran's drop to 145 came after a solid run through Bellator's lightweight tournament, which he also won to get a shot at then-champ Eddie Alvarez in April 2011. He lost that fight by unanimous decision.

http://www.mmajunkie.com/news/2013/02/with-straus-out-champ-pat-curran-meets-shahbulat-shamhalaev-at-bellator-95

Great news. I actually think Shah might win this...

First I'm hearing of Karo-Hawn. This might have been a fun fight if 2012 Hawn fought 2005 Karo, but that's certainly not the case now. Karo will probably suffer a very bad KO here.

^Rooting for Shah, great matchup.

Way more danger in this fight for Curran than versus Straus. Shah is a beast and is either going to bring out the best in Curran or break him. Only the true champion can emerge here.

And agreed Hawn is going to run over Parisyan, at least I hope so.

Yeah this is a way better fight than the Straus fight. Going with Shah in the upset.

Shahbulat Shamhalaev the next Bellator MMA Champion.

Ah oo oo oo I'm on the road to Shahbulat!...

I find Strauss a boring grinder and him vs pat curran would be boring.

Im glad SS is taking his spot because he's coming in with a lot of buzz unlike strauss who people forget he won season 6 or some shit?? ?

curran vs shahbulat....best title fight of the season

I think I called Shah would be next....

Bellator 95 will play host to the Season 8 middleweight and featherweight tournament finals, as well as a welterweight showdown between judokas Rick Hawn and Karo Parisyan.

Bellator previously announced that the April 4 event would house the two finals, and Sherdog.com verified the plan Wednesday with a source close to the show, who also confirmed the Hawn-Parisyan booking. Magomedrasul Khasbulaev will square off with Mike Richman in the featherweight finals, while Brett Cooper and Doug Marshall will do battle over the 185-pound tournament crown.

Bellator 95 takes place at Revel in Atlantic City, N.J., and is headlined by a featherweight title collision between reigning champion Pat Curran and Season 7 tournament winner Shahbulat Shamhalaev. The event will also see women’s flyweight prospect Jessica Eye toe the line against Munah Holland, while former welterweight king Lyman Good faces “TUF 7” alumnus Dante Rivera.

Hawn, 36, conquered the Season 6 lightweight tournament last year, only to come up short in his Jan. 17 title bid against Michael Chandler. In his welterweight return, the former Olympian faces fellow judoka Karo Parisyan, who makes his Bellator debut on the heels of back-to-back wins under the Gladiator Challenge banner.

Khasbulaev dominated Fabricio de Assis Costa da Silva in the Season 8 quarterfinals and did the same to former Sengoku champion Marlon Sandro in the round-of-four. Richman, meanwhile, looks to snap his foe’s eight-fight winning streak after advancing to the featherweight finals by besting Mitch Jackson and Alexandre Bezerra.

Cooper outpointed Norman Paraisy and then authored an exciting, come-from-behind victory in his semifinal against Dan Cramer, overcoming a two-round deficit to earn a knockout in the bout’s final stanza. On the other side of the bracket, Marshall punched out Andreas Spang and then took a controversial split decision victory from Sultan Aliev to earn his place in the tournament finals.

http://www.sherdog.com/news/news/Bellator-95-Gets-Middleweight-Featherweight-Finals-ParisyanHawn-Welterweight-Duel-50891

Stack card.

Hawn going to seriously, seriously hurt Karo. I smell a violent KO.

Sweet Pea Is My Mom wrote:Hawn going to seriously, seriously hurt Karo. I smell a violent KO.

I agree.

Rooting for Frodo and Shah

PRIDE FC wrote:Rooting for Frodo and Shah

Same here and I think Karo seriously has his hands full.

Man I didnt even know KAro was still in the game.