With free agency looming, Millender looking for top contender if returning to Bellator.
Curtis Millender is just like the rest of us, the rest of the world. When asked what has been the biggest struggle of the last six or so months that have been plagued by a pandemic, his answer was simple.
“I just miss everyone,” Millender laughed. “Man I just miss everybody.”
Millender left the UFC after losing two straight bouts. After a 3-0 start with the promotion, the back-to-back losses were apparently enough to let the 32-year-old fighter go. After a victory in his Bellator debut, Millender knows the importance of a winning streak.
“It’s very important. I’m not doing this as a hobby. This is truly my life, this is how I want to take care of my family,” Millender told Cageside Press at the Bellator 243 media day. “Building a streak is only going to put me in a position to make the money I need to make to take care of my family.”
When Bellator 243 goes down this Friday, Millender will be facing American Top Team’s Sabah Homasi. Millender believes that Homasi won’t have what it takes when it comes to his speed, quite frankly. “Courteous” believes his skill set is more dominant in nearly every facet of the fight between the two.
“Me being the longer, rangier, faster guy, [with] more skill-wise, he has to close that distance and try to get close to me,” Millender opined. “But you’ve got to cross that line, and unfortunately on the other side of that line is a lot of mean, evil stuff.”
This is the last fight on Millender’s contract with Bellator. While he believes he will be victorious at 243, he isn’t completely sure where he will be after this fight. He understands that his plan isn’t fully in his own hands.
“I have a plan but at the end of the day it’s not really my call. Whoever is going to give me what I need to take care of who I need to take care of, that’s where I’m going to go.” When asked if his plan involved Bellator, his response was simple. “Who knows.”
If he does return to Bellator MMA, however, the welterweight is looking for “top ten, top seven. I like the Ed Ruth match-up, Semtex [Paul Daley], of course MVP, but we all know how that happened the last twenty-five thousand times.”
Regardless of where his next fight will be, Millender is focused on Friday night. “Courteous” calls himself a fight nerd, one that is always watching film.
“You have to feed the mind. You can’t always go to the gym. I am a very smart fighter, make opponents fall into the traps and avoid damage.”
Curtis Millender is set to battle Sabah Homasi this Friday night on the main card of Bellator 243 at the Mohegan Sun Arena.
