Bellator MMA returned to action Saturday night in its stronghold of San Jose, California. With a heavyweight title fight topping the Bellator 226 card, plus the opening four fights of the featherweight grand prix, the night promised plenty of action. And for the most part, it delivered — right up until the main event, which was stopped early due to an accidental eye poke.

Full results and a gallery of highlights can be found below. And don’t miss the video highlights above!

Bellator 226: Bader vs. Kongo Results

Main Card

Ryan Bader (27-5, 1 NC) and Cheick Kongo (30-10-2, 1 NC) was ruled a no-contest due to an accidental eye poke
Derek Campos (20-9) defeated Daniel Straus (26-9) via unanimous decision (30-26, 30-25, 30-25)
Adam Borics (14-0) defeated Pat Curran (23-9) via TKO (punches) at 4:59 of round one
Pedro Carvalho (11-3) defeated Sam Sicilia (17-10) via submission (face-crank) at 1:56 of round two
Emmanuel Sanchez (19-4) defeated Tywan Claxton (5-1) via submission (triangle choke) at 4:11 of round two
Daniel Carey (7-3) defeated Gaston Bolanos (5-2) via technical submission (guillotine) at 4:19 of round one

Preliminary Card

Ivan Batinich (4-1) defeated Daniel Compton (2-2) via submission (rear-naked choke) a 4:33 of round two
Tyson Miller (1-0) defeated Albert Gonzales (1-2) via TKO at 1:18 of round one
Alan Benson (1-1) defeated Favian Gutierrez (2-3) via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
Peter Ishiguro (2-1) defeated Elias Anderson (0-1) via unanimous decision (29-28 x3)
Daniel Gonzalez (3-2) defeated Jon Adams (0-1-1) via TKO (strikes) at 4:56 of round two
Cornelius Savage (1-0) defeated Evan Gubera (0-2) via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
John Macapa (23-4-2) defeated Ashleigh Grimshaw (20-11-1) via TKO (corner stoppage) at 5:00 of round two
Adam Piccolotti (12-3) defeated Jake Smith (7-3) via submission (rear-naked choke) at 2:34 of round two
Jessica Borga (3-2) defeated Amber Leibrock (3-4) via submission (armbar) at 4:45 of round one
Cass Bell (4-0) defeated Isaiah Rocha (1-1) via submission (guillotine choke) at 1:21 of round one
Batsumberel Dagvadorj (6-0) defeated James Terry (20-11) via submission (bulldog choke) at 2:43 of round one
Renato Valente Alves (6-4) defeated Abraham Vaesau (5-3) via submission (rear-naked choke) at 3:36 of round three
Hyder Amil (4-0) defeated Ignacio Ortiz (2-1-1) via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
Chris Gonzalez (3-0) defeated Luis Vargas (2-4) via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-26, 30-25)

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Former two-time champion and two-time Bellator MMA tournament winner Pat Curran entered the Bellator featherweight grand prix as one of the more experienced fighters in the tournament. His opponent, a rising prospect in the form of Hungary’s Adam Borics. Borics was an undefeated rookie to start the night, and he’d be getting a solid step up in competition at Bellator 226 against Curran.

Round 1:

The third fight of the featherweight grand prix started with a feeling out process. Borics would attack his opponent’s leg, but he didn’t have a ton on the kicks. Nor did Curran on his own. Neither man had found their range by the midway mark of the round. Borics was swinging, but hitting air. He finally doubled up on his jab, at least getting something through. The pair went back to trading kicks, however, with little else happening in the opening round.

Cageside Press scored the round 10-9 for Borics

Round 2:

Someone was going to have to open up in the second. The question was, who would make the first move? Borics fired a combination, then landed a leg kick. Curran went to the body with a kick, that at least partially connected. More low kicks from both men followed, but there was still little in the way of action by the midway point. Borics flashed a front kick but came up short. Borics’ inside and outside leg kicks were getting harder, however, and Curran was showing some damage. He fired off a spinning back fist that went well wide.

Finally, things opened up when Adam Borics launched a flying knee, dropping Curran, who survived the blow but wound up with Borics on top. The earlier leg kicks had made Curran an easy target for that knee. Borics began raining down blows, as ref Frank Trigg waved it off right at the bell!

Adam Borics def. Pat Curran by TKO, Round 2, 4:59

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Favian Gutierrez weighed in with a luchador mask, Abraham Vaesau missed weight for a catchweight bout, but mostly, the Bellator 226 official weigh-ins were an orderly affair. Right up until Cheick Kongo gave a firm shove to opponent Ryan Bader during the final face-off ahead of fight night.

Both men made weight, however, not that it was ever in question, given the pair clock in well below the 265lb upper limit of the division. That means the heavyweight title fight between double-champ Ryan Bader (who also holds 205lb gold) and Kongo is a go. So too are the four opening round bouts from Bellator’s featherweight grand prix. With four more fights in the tournament coming later in the month, the 16-man grand prix was set to be a hot topic.

But it was Bader’s first heavyweight title defense that would have curious MMA fans looking on Saturday night. Kongo, on an eight-fight win streak, was his toughest test in the weight class to date.

Full weigh-in results are below. The event takes place Saturday, September 7 live at the SAP Center in San Jose, CA.

Bellator 226: Bader vs. Kongo Weigh-In Results

Heavyweight: Ryan Bader (c) (228.7) vs. Cheick Kongo (239.2) – For the Bellator MMA heavyweight championship
Featherweight: Daniel Straus (144.4) vs. Derek Campos (144.9) – Bellator featherweight grand prix opening round
Featherweight: Pat Curran (144.6) vs. Ádám Borics (144.7) – Bellator featherweight grand prix opening round
Featherweight: Sam Sicilia (145) vs. Roberto de Carvalho (144.1) – Bellator featherweight grand prix opening round
Featherweight: Emmanuel Sanchez (144.1) vs. Tywan Claxton (144.3) – Bellator featherweight grand prix opening round
Featherweight: Gaston Bolanos (145.5) vs. Daniel Carey (144.2)

Preliminary card

Middleweight: Ivan Batinich (185.2) vs. Daniel Compton (185.3)
Catchweight (180 lbs.): Albert Gonzalez (180) vs. Tyson Miller (179.1)
Middleweight: Favian Gutierrez (185.6) vs. Alan Benson (184.7)
Catchweight (140 lbs.): Peter Ishiguro (139.9) vs. Elias Anderson (139.8)
Flyweight: Daniel Gonzalez (125.3) vs. Jonathan Adams (124)
Middleweight: Cornelius Savage (184.9) vs. Evan Gubera (184.7)
Featherweight: John Maċapa (145.6) vs. Ashleigh Grimshaw (145.5)
Lightweight: Adam Piccolotti (155.2) vs. Jacob Smith (155.4)
Women’s Featherweight: Amber Leibrock (145.4) vs. Jessica Borga (144.7)
Bantamweight: Cass Bell (135.6) vs. Isaiah Rocha (135.1)
Welterweight: James Terry (169.7) vs. Batsumberel Dagvadorj (171)
Catchweight (175 lbs.): Abraham Vaesau (178.8)* vs. Renato Alves (172.9)
Featherweight: Hyder Amil (145.9) vs. Ignacio Ortiz  (145.4)
Lightweight: Christopher Gonzalez (155.8) vs. Luis Vargas (156)

* Vaesau missed the catchweight 175lb limit and will be fined 20% of his purse

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There is almost an intrinsic inclination to shy away from any show of weakness in MMA. It’s a sport that rewards toughness and mental fortitude. That encourages athletes to hide any semblance of vulnerability. Inside or out of the cage, it doesn’t seem to matter. Bellator 226’s Pat Curran is a fighter who has broken that taboo, speaking openly in the past of dealing with depression.

Cageside Press caught up with former two-time featherweight champion, not to mention two-time Bellator tournament winner, ahead of the opening round of Bellator’s featherweight grand prix this weekend. Which gave us the chance to ask him whether the very nature of MMA, with its roller coaster of ups and downs, intensified his depression.

“Of course,” Curran agreed. Nor was it just about the highs and lows of the sport. Training itself, said Curran, played a role. “At the time, when I did come out with it, I wasn’t aware of how severe head trauma, head injuries could be, the effects of it. The training camp I was at, we were sparring hard constantly. Even after my fights, there was another fighter getting ready for a fight, so I rolled right back into another training camp for somebody else.”

It was a constant cycle. Train, fight, jump back in and help someone else prepare. “I was getting hard sparring in,” said Curran, but with it came “the constant head abuse. That’s the problem with smaller teams,  you don’t have many guys to train with, so they kind of rely on you. They help you out with your camp, you help them out with their camp. That’s just how we trained, back in the day, a lot of hard rounds.”

While Curran pointed out that he’d “never been knocked out, those rounds can add up. On top of having a loss, going through a winter where you haven’t seen the sun for months at a time [seasonal depression].” It all added up.

“You can feel the effects of getting depressed and down on yourself,” Curran explained. In his case, he was self-aware enough to recognize change was necessary. “That’s just something I recognized, I realized, and I made the correction to fix that problem and have a better outlook on my position. I haven’t dealt with depression in a long time, I overcame it. I found the light, found the path I wanted to go down, and I haven’t looked back.”

Curran learned first and foremost that he needs to take time off now and then. It took him a while. “That’s just me being a young, immature, dumb fighter not knowing any better.”

“Now that I’m more mature, I’m older, I’m looking out for my best interest and my family’s best interest,” he explained. That means taking personal time, to “rest your body, rest your mind, get back into the right mind state.” It’s something he now does after each fight. His training style has changed as well. Gone is the constant hard sparring. Instead, “only when I need to, leading up to the fight, say six weeks, seven weeks out, we start picking up the intensity, picking up the pace of sparring.”

To others who might be going through similar struggles, Curran suggested that “you just have to realize it and want to make the changes yourself. It’s not a sprint, it’s a marathon. It’s going to take time. You have to make those small changes, little by little and want to better yourself, change your life for the better.”

It’s not something you can wait out, either. “If you’re not happy, you feel stuck, get unstuck. Get out. Change up your life, do something that you want to start doing,” advised Curran. “It takes time. Don’t expect to see results overnight. You have to put in the time, be patient, and eventually, the changes will start affecting your mood.”

The Bellator Featherweight Grand Prix: Experience is not a factor

Heading into the featherweight grand prix at Bellator 226, Curran is in a good place. He’s also, as noted, a two-time tournament winner in Bellator MMA. He won the Bellator Season 2 lightweight tournament in 2010, and followed that up a year later by winning the 2011 Summer Series featherweight tournament.

So experience in tournaments should be on his side, right? Not so fast. “I want to say yes, but I don’t believe so,” Curran told us ahead of his opening round fight against Adam Borics. “I’m right there with the rest of the fighters.”

“I don’t think anybody has an edge. Especially with my experience of being a two-time tournament winner, that was a long time ago, I was real early in my Bellator career,” he elaborated. “This is a totally different ballpark right now. Everybody in the tournament is extremely competent and can win.”

“I don’t want to say experience is going to have a factor in this at all,” he reiterated.

The featherweight grand prix is expected to play out over the course of the next year, a vast difference from Bellator’s early tournaments, which took mere months. On the topic of a preference in terms of time frame, Curran said that “if you had asked me that question when I was 21, 22, of course I liked the quicker pace. But I feel like my body recovered a little bit quicker, especially after going through a tough fight.”

These days, said the former champ, “I’ll take the extra time, recover, reset, and come up with a new game plan.”

With a million dollars plus the title on the line, that’s a safe approach. Asked which was more appealing, the belt or the cash, Curran answered “that’s the beauty of the tournament. You can do both. They both have the same appeal to me. But of course a million dollars can change my future, my family’s future for the rest of their lives.”

So he’s gunning for both. “I definitely want to have both with me back home in Illinois,” said Curran, who never anticipated competing for that kind of money at this point of his career.

“Absolutely not. Never expected it. I saw it in other organizations,” said Curran. However, he didn’t expect Bellator to follow suit. “Maybe,” he allowed, “but not featherweights. I had no idea at all.” Curran was excited when the promotion announced the grand prix, but was also on standby waiting to see if he’d be included after losing his last fight to A.J. McKee.

However as a two-time champ of the division he figured “there’s good possibility I’d be invited to the tournament.” Curran stayed positive and played the waiting game, and as it turned out, he was right, and was announced among the first 16 men competing in the grand prix. First up, rising prospect Adam Borics.

Adam Borics

“He’s as tough as they come,” Curran observed of Borics, an undefeated Hungarian with a 13-0 record and a tendency to uncork flying knees at any given moment. “Everybody in this tournament, they can win this tournament. It’s a very dangerous, very deep, stacked division.”

“With Adam, he’s never tasted defeat, never experienced a loss before,” Curran pointed out. “He’s on this wave of confidence right now, he has a lot of momentum on his side. That can be dangerous for a fighter. Hopefully I can dig down and put some pressure on him.”

“I know I have a lot more fight experience in the cage, I’ve been with Bellator a lot longer,” continued Curran. But again, he added, “I don’t think that’s a factor on my side.” Forget experience. Plus, “he’s very experienced in his own way, he has a lot of kickboxing experience, he’s training with an incredible team, he’s very active as a fighter.”

“Experience is not going to help me, it’s just the will to win, and who wants it more.”.

As for Boric’s flashy tendencies, “of course you just want to focus on you,” Curran said. “But at the same time, you’ve got to be cautious of his strengths. What he’s shown in Bellator is really good back position, he has a rear-naked choke finish, so he’s very good on the ground, and he likes to look for those knees, flying switch knees. Those are something that we’re prepped for, we’re training for, I have to watch out and stay away from his strengths.”

Curran, however, noted that he’s not over-thinking or over-analyzing his opponent, but rather focusing on making his own game better, while staying cautious.

Fatherhood and Fighting

Like Dad Cerrone and a number of other contemporaries, Patt Curran is now a father. Now entering his second fight as a dad, he’s also found a comfortable balance between fatherhood and fighting. “The last fight, he was still a little bit too young to go into day care,” said Curran in regard to his son. “I couldn’t afford daycare either at the time, it is extremely expensive. But over the last few months we found a really good nanny close to the house.”

That has turned out to be quite the blessing. “On the way to the gym I drop him off, on the way back I’m able to pick him up, or I can leave him there however long I need and get a second training session in.”

“I definitely found my routine that works best for my family right now,” he said, later adding that “even compared to my last training camp, we’re really further along.”

It’s a nice little system, said Curran. And his son is added motivation. “That’s always going to be on my mind now, and I just have to remind myself and try to motivate myself a little bit more, to push myself hard in the fight for him.”

Though he doesn’t like to speak of it too much, out of fear of letting him down, perhaps, his son is “always on my mind, that’s the whole reason I’m doing this — to provide a better future for him and my family.”

The McKee Fight

Again, MMA is a roller coaster. The ups, the downs. While Curran has put depression behind him, there’s no escaping the highs and lows until you walk away. Curran’s fight with A.J. McKee was unquestionably a low. However, it’s worth noting he did enter the bout after being out of action well over a year. Not that he’s looking for a scapegoat.

“I don’t like coming up with excuses. I had a bad night,” said Curran, who also admitted “A.J. was on point, looking awesome. You can say there was a little bit of rust involved, there was that long layoff, it could have played a factor. It’s hard to say. We’ll see my next fight, if I knock the rust off, dust off, and I’m able to actually perform and fight the way I know I can fight.”

One booking that surprised some MMA fans was seeing McKee passed over for a title shot in favor of Juan Archuleta. With the belt on the line in every round of the featherweight grand prix, it’s Archuleta who will meet champ Patricio Pitbull first. Despite McKee’s 14-0 record, and his defeat of Curran himself.

“A.J., he’s undefeated, he is the poster-boy for Bellator, they’re promoting the heck out of him. But I can see how they’d want that to be the final,” Curran said of the slight. “They’re going to try to keep them on opposite sides, and hopefully if everything comes out to plan, they’re going to have that as the final match. But anything can happen. That’s the beauty of this sport. You can’t really plan for anything, it’s up to the fighters to make their own fate.”

Bellator 226 takes place Saturday, September 7 at the SAP Center in San Jose, CA. The card airs live on DAZN.

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Bellator President Scott Coker announced all eight matchups on Ariel Helwani’s MMA Show, and the promotion published a press release shortly after.

The fights have been split evenly between September 7 and September 28. The bouts are as follows:

Bellator 226 (September 7)

• Sam Sicilia vs. Pedro Carvalho
• Daniel Straus vs. Derek Campos
• Pat Curran vs. Adam Borics
• Emmanuel Sanchez vs. Tywan Claxton

Bellator 228 (September 28)

• Patricio Pitbull (c) vs. Juan Archuleta – For Featherweight Championship
• AJ McKee vs. Georgi Karakhanyan
• Darrion Caldwell vs. Henry Corrales
• Daniel Weichel vs. Saul Rogers

Similar to the Welterweight Grand Prix, champion Patricio Pitbull will defend his title throughout the tournament in five-round bouts. That starts when he takes on top contender Juan Archuleta on September 28.

Former UFC featherweight Sam Sicilia will fight Pedro Carvalho. Sicilia is 2-1 since leaving the UFC, defeating Derek Campos most recently. Carvalho is a Portuguese prospect who is on a five-fight win streak, knocking out Campos in May.

Two-time champion Daniel Straus takes on Derek Campos. Straus returned from a near-two-year layoff in March when he submitted Shane Kruchten. Campos has an 8-7 record in Bellator, and comes in on a three-fight losing streak, with the last two being his first in the featherweight division.

Two-time featherweight champion Pat Curran will battle the undefeated Hungarian Adam Borics. Curran has been with the promotion since 2010 and recently had a three-fight win streak snapped by AJ McKee. Borics is 4-0 in Bellator and is coming off a huge flying knee KO against Aaron Pico.

Former title challenger Emmanuel Sanchez fights top prospect Tywan Claxton. Sanchez has won five of his last six, while Claxton is 5-0 in his career with four knockouts.

AJ Mckee is one of the promotion’s hot commodities, going 14-0 in his career without ever fighting in a different organization. He’ll take on Georgi Karakhanyan, who is a former WSOF champion with a 4-5 record in the promotion since 2010.

Darrion Caldwell recently lost his bantamweight title to Kyoji Horiguchi, and will look to bounce back one division higher against Henry Corrales. Corrales has won five-straight fights since moving to The MMA Lab, including a first-round knockout against Aaron Pico.

Lastly, Daniel Weichel faces Saul Rogers. Weichel is 7-3 with the promotion and has fought for the title twice. He’ll be looking to bounce back from a pair of split decision losses. Saul Rogers is a promising fighter who was a finalist on The Ultimate Fighter, but visa issues kept him out of the UFC. He is 13-2 in his career and successfully made his promotional debut in May.

Bellator 226 takes place on September 7 in the SAP Center in San Jose, California, and is headlined by Ryan Bader vs. Cheick Kongo for the heavyweight title. Bellator 228 goes down three weeks later, in The Forum in Los Angeles. All Bellator Featherweight Grand Prix bouts will air exclusively on DAZN.

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Bellator 221 marked the promotion’s return to the outskirts of the Windy City (to be exact) on Saturday night, bringing a massive card to the Allstate Arena in Rosemont, Illinois.

In the main event of the evening, pundits far and wide put a certain level of expectation on the fight to the extent in which we would ultimately find out who is the greatest Bellator fighter of all time. We were treated with a conclusive ending, to some degree. Many fans took exception to the stoppage that saw Patricio ‘Pitbull’ Freire take the lightweight title from three-time titleholder Michael Chander, however that remains the reality. That being said, certain situations involved have created a somewhat easier task for the matchmaker. That is the very role I have taken upon myself today, as I give you my take on which fights make sense going forward for Bellator 221’s main card fighters.

Patricio ‘Pitbull’ Freire: AJ McKee in the Bellator Featherweight Grand Prix

Patricio Freire became the second man to achieve two division supremacy on Saturday night, finishing off Michael Chandler in just over 60 seconds. Now with the younger of the two pitbull brothers a dual-champ, the waters will subsequently become murky in one of those two divisions. My guess is it’s the lightweight division, as the Featherweight grand prix is set to open for business later this year. If it’s constructed the same way as the Welterweight one is (with the exception being 16 entrants) Pitbull’s belt is on the line. McKee is the only worthy first challenger at this point in time.

Michael Chandler: Adam Piccolotti

Michael Chandler’s third title reign came to an abrupt ending on Saturday, as he fell to Patricio Pitbull in his first defense since reclaiming the belt from Brent Primus in December. Chandler has pretty much fought everyone you can possibly fight in the Bellator lightweight division, including Piccolotti’s last opponent, Benson Henderson. Chandler and Piccolotti are each coming off losses, and would provide a fresh matchup for this division.

Douglas Lima: Rory MacDonald/Neiman Gracie Winner for the Bellator Welterweight Championship

Douglas Lima arguably scored the highlight of the night, starching Michael ‘Venom’ Page in the second frame of their welterweight grand prix encounter. Lima will face the winner of the June 14 collision between Rory MacDonald and Neiman Gracie, which takes place as a part of Bellator 222.

Michael Page: Andrey Koreshkov

The days in which Michael ‘Venom’ Page crushes the cans of today is now a thing of the past. Lima’s stunning knockout of Page surely instills that sentiment at this point, as Page will surely be given matchups more suited for his overall skill level. Lima’s victim one fight prior? Former champion Andrey Koreshkov. That’s a fight I would certainly like to see.

A.J. McKee: Patricio ‘Pitbull’ Freire in the Bellator Featherweight Grand Prix

A.J. McKee continues to do what he’s done to his 13 opponents prior. Kick ass, take names, and remain undefeated. McKee should undoubtedly be next for the champion, and is ready to make the leap.

Pat Curran: Fighter in the Bellator Featherweight Grand Prix

Former two-time champion Pat Curran was bested by the young prospect McKee on Saturday, that fight being his 18th with the promotion. Curran had his moments, and might have needed this type of test before the tournament later this year given the lengthy layoff Curran was on the heels of.

Jake Hager: Promotional Newcomer

Former WWE star and current MMA fighter Jake Hager continued his transition inside of the Bellator cage by getting his second tap from an arm-triangle choke in as many professional outings. Hager has stated he wants to fight twice more this year, which would ultimately make him 4-0 in his first year as a professional fighter. If my read on this situation is on target, I’m going to assume they continue to lob him some more softballs.

T.J. Jones: Fight Outside The Promotion

Do I really need to explain this one in depth? I’m glad that he got some exposure, and I’m happy for him given the payday he and his family will be the beneficiary of. Whatever. That’s all good and fine. But, let’s be honest. The Jack Black stuff on social media was there for a reason. He seems like a really nice dude and all, but he has no business inside of a cage with a guy that holds the 285-pound record for pins at the University of Oklahoma. That’s just how the cookie crumbles here.

Tywan Claxton: Fighter in the Bellator Featherweight Grand Prix

It’s time to get some of these prospects to step up to higher quality competition. That may have been what Bellator was aiming for when they gave blue-chip prospect Tywan Claxton the Wisconsin-bred James Bennett, who entering the fight had four wins all by way of finish inside of two rounds. The fight though, was rather one-sided as Claxton imposed his will and took Bennett down repeatedly and bashed him on the ground. Claxton is ready for a step up. Let’s get him in this tournament.

James Bennett: Fight Outside The Promotion

James Bennett was not ready for a step up in competition this big. Bennett was probably expected to do at least a little better too, given a fast-finishing track record that he had himself. It’s probably not a bad idea to let him gain some more experience before considering booking him again.

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If A.J. McKee can still be considered a prospect with a 13-0 record in Bellator MMA, then Saturday night at Bellator 221 was his greatest opportunity to shake that label. Tasked with taking on former featherweight champ Pat Curran, returning for his first fight since 2017, McKee was looking to continue his winning ways, and make a statement that he was ready to take on 145lb champ Patricio Pitbull.

Undefeated. Unyielding. Uncompromising. There’s a lot of ways to describe AJ McKee’s career in the cage to date. Few fighters make it to double digits undefeated.

The streak continued on Saturday in Chicago. But it wasn’t one of McKee’s more memorable affairs.

McKee opened with a front kick that fanned, then fired off a slick looking spinning kick that also hit air. Through the opening minute, neither man had actually connected until a lower body kick from McKee hit home. Curran would later land his own kick; McKee would fire one upstairs, which Curran blocked.

Two minutes in, and McKee opted to take the fight down, planting Curran on his back. The fight wouldn’t stay down for long, however. On the feet, McKee used kicks to keep his opponent on the outside, but that resulted in a lack of activity as Curran struggled to find a way in. McKee would explode into a flurry of strikes late in the round, but Curran escaped no worse for the wear.

Round two saw Curran adjust, coming out firing kicks and looking a little more energetic. McKee stuck to his original game plan early in the frame, using his length well. Once again, the end result was a lack of action, with the crowd voicing their displeasure. When something did land, it was usually McKee, usually single strikes. However with ninety seconds left in the round, Curran shot in for a takedown, driving through to completion. McKee was very active off his back, a spot he hadn’t spent much time in during this career to date.

Whether that takedown did enough to steal the round for Curran was questionable. There was still a good chance he’d need a finish, but it was McKee who was more active early in the third. Curran was on the outside more often than not, with McKee firing off leg kicks. He tried to shoot in as he had in the second, but McKee sprawled. Curran finished the sequence with a knee, but McKee continued to execute his game plan. Toward the end of the round, they went to the ground, McKee on top. It ended shortly after, with McKee clearly the winner in a rather tepid affair

AJ McKee def. Pat Curran by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-26)

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Chicago, IL — Former featherweight champ Pat Curran returns at Bellator 221, fighting for the first time since 2017. An extended layoff, in part due to injury, pressed pause on a three-fight win streak against some of the best in Bellator’s 145lb division.

Finally, however, Curran (23-7) is back, taking on undefeated ace A.J. McKee. “I feel incredible. I’m back,” Curran told Cageside Press during fight week.

He certainly is back, and he certainly isn’t getting any softballs in his return. McKee (13-0) is as dangerous as they come.

“Yeah of course. I can pick and choose who I want to fight. I accepted it for a reason,” Curran explained of the tough match-up. “I have a championship mindset. I’m not afraid of anybody. The champion can’t pick and choose who he fights. I have that mindset. I’m not going to say no to somebody because I had a long layoff, or he’s been knocking everybody out.” Curran, rather, is out to prove something. “I truly believe that I’m the best in this division, and I need to beat everybody they want to give me.”

The former champ has had some changes during his time away, he told us Thursday. “Changes happen, the older you get, the more mature you become. I have newfound motivation right now, I have a one year old son at home.”

The differences now are profound. “That completely changed up my whole training camp, schedule, and routine, because I’m not the priority anymore, he is. First thing I do when I wake up is take care of him. Then I take care of myself. So in that sense it’s changed a little bit, but it’s also given me a little more drive during this camp to push myself to be the best athlete I can.”

If that sounds familiar, it’s a similar sentiment to Cowboy Cerrone, currently known as Dad Cerrone. Curran feels he can do something similar to Cerrone, currently on a stellar run. “100%,” Curran agreed. “It happens to any father. Any time you have a son or daughter, it completely changes your whole life. It doesn’t happen right away, but it’s a process. I’ve been a father for a year now, that process is already taking place, and setting in.”

The end result for Curran is that “I’m as happy as I can [be], I love going home to my family, hanging out with my family.” Most importantly, he added later, “I’m in the right state mentally.”

Against A.J. McKee at Bellator 221, Curran feels that “the best case scenario would be a first round knockout. Go out, feel him out a little bit, clip him him with one hard shot that puts him out. Next thing you know, you go home with twice the payday, and you’re one step closer along in the division.”

“But that’s never the case. You never expect that to happen,” he cautioned. “You’re open to it, you know it’s going to happen as a possibility, but it’s always that shot that you don’t know [if] it’s going to land. So I’m always ready to go fifteen minutes, I’m always ready to go full distance, but I’m able to see that one shot that hurts him. If he doesn’t drop and I rock him, I’m going to be all over him.”

Bellator 221 takes place Saturday, May 11 at the AllState Arena in Chicago, IL. The card airs live on DAZN.

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Bellator is hoping to pair up A.J. McKee and Pat Curran once again. ESPN was first to report the news that the pairing, originally scheduled for September 2018, was back on for Bellator 221. That event is set for May 11 in Chicago, Illinois.

The star pupil of Team Bodyshop under father Antonio McKee, A.J. McKee (13-0) currently holds the record for the longest win streak in Bellator history. The talented featherweight has seven finishes among his thirteen wins, but has frequently been faced with questions regarding his level of opposition. Curran should silence that.

A former two-time featherweight champion, Pat Curran (23-7), is currently riding a three-fight win streak, with victories over Emmanuel Sanchez, Georgi Karakhanyan, John Teixeira. Winner of the Bellator Season 11 featherweight tournament, Curran holds notable wins over Joe Warren, Patricio Pitbull, and Daniel Straus.

Bellator 221 is set to be headlined by lightweight champion Michael Chandler taking on featherweight rival Patricio Pitbull. The winner of McKee vs. Curran could get the nod for the next featherweight title shot down the line — though it’s worth noting that Bellator is expected to launch a featherweight tournament later in the year.

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The hotly anticipated battle between Pat Curran and A.J. McKee will not be taking place at Bellator 205 as expected. MMA Junkie was among the first to report that Curran, a former Bellator featherweight champion, has been forced off the card due to an undisclosed injury. The promotion is currently in the midst of looking for a replacement.

Bellator 205’s main event tilt had been expected to be something of a proving ground for A.J. McKee, son of noted lightweight Antonio McKee. The younger McKee (11-0) has spent his entire career with Bellator, and remains perfect in the cage. Curran (23-7), as a former champion, was expected to test McKee’s readiness for the top of the division.

Instead, the promotion will have to look elsewhere for that test. McKee’s winning streak, it should be noted, is the longest in promotion history.

In addition the McKee, the Bellator 205 card features a key middleweight bout, which could determine the next title challenger in the weight class. In that, grappling experts Rafael Lovato Jr. and John Salter collide in the night’s co-main event.

Bellator 205 takes place September 21 at the CenturyLink Arena in Boise, Idaho. The event will air on the Paramount Network following an online stream of the preliminary card, which you can find on Cageside Press among other websites.

The Bellator 205 main card currently looks as follows:

A.J. McKee vs. TBD
Rafael Lovato Jr. vs. John Salter
Patricky Freire vs. Goiti Yamauchi
Veta Arteaga vs. Denise Kielholtz

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