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Roger Huerta, not Pat Curran, to meet champ Eddie Alvarez at Bellator 33 by Steven Marrocco on Aug 12, 2010
With season-two tournament winner Pat Curran (12-3 MMA, 3-0 BFC) sidelined by injury, semifinalist Roger Huerta (21-4-1 MMA, 1-1 BFC) instead gets a fight with lightweight champ Eddie Alvarez (20-2 MMA, 4-0 BFC).
The bout takes place Oct. 21 at Bellator 33, multiple sources close to the event told MMAjunkie.com (UFC blog for UFC news, UFC rumors, fighter interviews and event previews/recaps | MMAjunkie.com). However, it's a slated as a three-round non-title fight.
The FOX Sports Net-televised event currently is slated to take place at the Kansas City Power & Light District in Missouri.
According to the sources, the bout is in the process of being finalized and could be announced shortly. The sources said Curran suffered a shoulder or arm injury while training for the upcoming bout and won't be ready for the October fight date.
Bellator, which kicks off its third season tonight, hosted eight-man lightweight tournaments in its first two seasons. Alvarez won the first and was crowned a champion, and Curran won the second to earn No. 1 contender status and a title shot.
As part of his tournament run, Curran upset Huerta, a prized acquisition who had defected from the UFC, via unanimous decision.
Huerta, once of the sport's biggest stars and the first-ever MMA fighter featured on the cover of "Sports Illustrated," now has lost three of his past four fights since opening his career with a stellar 20-1-1 mark. In addition to Curran, the losses came to notables Kenny Florian (unanimous decision) and Gray Maynard (close split decision). The lone victory in that span came over then-undefeated Chad Hinton in their Bellator tourney-opening bout.
Alvarez, meanwhile, enters the bout with a five-fight win streak and 10 victories in his past 11 fights. Eight of the 10 wins came via stoppage, including submission wins over Greg Loughran, Eric Reynolds and Toby Imada in the season-one tourney and Josh Neer in a season-two non-title fight. The tourney run and Alvarez's accomplishments in the Japanese-based DREAM organization and has given him solid footing in the world's top-10 lightweight rankings.
Roger Huerta, not Pat Curran, to meet champ Eddie Alvarez at Bellator 33 | MMAjunkie.com
With season-two tournament winner Pat Curran (12-3 MMA, 3-0 BFC) sidelined by injury, semifinalist Roger Huerta (21-4-1 MMA, 1-1 BFC) instead gets a fight with lightweight champ Eddie Alvarez (20-2 MMA, 4-0 BFC).
The bout takes place Oct. 21 at Bellator 33, multiple sources close to the event told MMAjunkie.com (UFC blog for UFC news, UFC rumors, fighter interviews and event previews/recaps | MMAjunkie.com). However, it's a slated as a three-round non-title fight.
The FOX Sports Net-televised event currently is slated to take place at the Kansas City Power & Light District in Missouri.
According to the sources, the bout is in the process of being finalized and could be announced shortly. The sources said Curran suffered a shoulder or arm injury while training for the upcoming bout and won't be ready for the October fight date.
Bellator, which kicks off its third season tonight, hosted eight-man lightweight tournaments in its first two seasons. Alvarez won the first and was crowned a champion, and Curran won the second to earn No. 1 contender status and a title shot.
As part of his tournament run, Curran upset Huerta, a prized acquisition who had defected from the UFC, via unanimous decision.
Huerta, once of the sport's biggest stars and the first-ever MMA fighter featured on the cover of "Sports Illustrated," now has lost three of his past four fights since opening his career with a stellar 20-1-1 mark. In addition to Curran, the losses came to notables Kenny Florian (unanimous decision) and Gray Maynard (close split decision). The lone victory in that span came over then-undefeated Chad Hinton in their Bellator tourney-opening bout.
Alvarez, meanwhile, enters the bout with a five-fight win streak and 10 victories in his past 11 fights. Eight of the 10 wins came via stoppage, including submission wins over Greg Loughran, Eric Reynolds and Toby Imada in the season-one tourney and Josh Neer in a season-two non-title fight. The tourney run and Alvarez's accomplishments in the Japanese-based DREAM organization and has given him solid footing in the world's top-10 lightweight rankings.
Roger Huerta, not Pat Curran, to meet champ Eddie Alvarez at Bellator 33 | MMAjunkie.com
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