Bellator confirms Joe Warren vs. Pat Curran for March 9
Featherweight Title on the line.
Follow us on YouTube (TheSportsCourier) and Twitter: @FredRichani and @DaSportsCourier
UPDATE 1/20/12: This will be the season six debut, as it has been pushed back one week.
Crystal Lake’s Curran seeks World Title as he faces Joe Warren In front of hometown crowd on March 9
Bellator Featherweight Tournament winner faces champion Warren at Hammond’s Horseshoe
CHICAGO, Ill. (1/19/12) — Bellator Season 5 Featherweight Tournament winner Pat Curran stands one win away from realizing his dream. After a brilliant 3-0 tournament run, it was a lightning-fast kick to the head of Marlon Sandro in the final that propelled the 24-year-old rising super star from top prospect to top contender (Watch Here: http://bit.ly/qKvQ5m).
Now the contender will get his well-deserved World title shot.
The Chicago-based Bellator Fighting Championships heads back to the Chicago area as Crystal Lake, Illinois’ own Pat Curran (@PatCurranMMA) will take on current Bellator Featherweight Champion “The Baddest Man on the Planet” Joe Warren (@JoeWarrenMMA) LIVE from The Venue at The Horseshoe Casino in Hammond, Indiana on Friday, March 9. Tickets for this event go on sale at 10 a.m. CT on Friday, January 20 and are available at The Horseshoe Casino, Ticketmaster, www.thevenue-chicago.com, or by calling 1-800-745-3000. Tickets are priced from $42-$107.
The event will broadcast starting at 7 p.m. CT on MTV2 and in commercial-free HD on EPIX. Doors open at 5:30 p.m. CT, with the first fight scheduled for 6 p.m. CT. The preliminary card will be streamed LIVE and FREE around the world on Spike.com starting at 6 p.m. CT.
“Everything is falling into place right now,” Curran said. “My hometown is really close to where I’m fighting and I know I’ll have the support of my family and friends. This is something that is meant to be.”
Even though Curran admits he will have the “home-cage advantage” on March 9, the 24-year-old Crystal Lake native knows the challenge that is right in front of him.
“Even though he’s coming off a loss, he’s a very dangerous opponent,” Curran said of Warren. “He is a very strong wrestler who’s going to try to close the distance and work the clinch against me. I’m looking forward to a great fight.”
After a one-fight stint at Bantamweight, Joe Warren is back defending his Bellator Featherweight championship. Winner of his last five Featherweight fights, the 35-year-old Denver product has the experience and the cage savvy to bust up Curran’s homecoming party.
“The Midwest is known for great fighters and great fight fans,” Bellator Chairman & CEO Bjorn Rebney said. “To be hosting an event of this magnitude in our backyard is like Christmas morning; plus you get to see Chicagoland’s own, rising superstar Pat Curran vie for the World Title against one of the toughest fighters in all of MMA – Joe Warren. As a diehard MMA fan, I can’t wait for March 9th to get here at Horseshoe.”
