Curran vs. Strauss Featherweight World Title Fight Added to Stacked Saturday Nov. 2nd Bellator Pay-Per-View

Newport Beach, CA. (August 27^th, 2013) – With two title defenses already under his belt, Bellator Featherweight Champion Pat Curran will look to make it 3 for 3 in 2013 when he faces Featherweight Tournament winner Daniel Straus live on Pay-Per-View November 2^nd from The Long Beach Arena. Curran vs. Straus now joins a fight card that already features King Mo vs. Emanuel Newton for the Interim Light Heavyweight Title, the rematch of 2011’s fight of the year between Michael Chandler and Eddie Alvarez for the Lightweight World Title, as well as the main event of the evening, Rampage Jackson vs. Tito Ortiz.

“Rampage vs. Tito” will be held at Southern California’s Long Beach Arena on Saturday, November 2nd, with tickets on sale now. Tickets can be purchased on Bellator.com, Ticketmaster.com, as well as at The Long Beach Arena Box Office.

“Pat Curran’s one of the best Mixed Martial Artists we have in the game today,” Bellator Chairman & CEO said. “Before breaking his hand Straus was a fixture in the Top 10 rankings with a huge amount of talent. Curran vs. Straus is a fight I’ve wanted to see since Daniel won the tournament a year ago last May.  This should be an epic world title fight and our PPV provides the perfect stage.”

Only 25, Curran’s career has skyrocketed since claiming the Bellator Featherweight World Title in March of 2012 with a devastating knockout win over “The Baddest Man on the Planet” Joe Warren. Currently ranked 2nd in the World by ESPN’s Featherweight Power Rankings, “Paddy Mike” is looking to continue his stranglehold on the featherweight division with a victory on November 2^nd, and looking to push his ranking to #1 in the World while maintaining his focus on the challenges that await him.

“I’ve been with Bellator since the beginning, and seen my career grow as Bellator has,” Curran said. “It means the world to me to be able to defend my title on our first Pay-Per-View, especially with such a tough fight ahead of me. I’m not taking Straus lightly. He is an incredibly tough featherweight, and I’m not even thinking about our first fight in 2009, we are two totally different guys right now. This card is stacked, and I want to give Bellator and all our fans a great show.”  

For Straus, the fight against Curran is a long time coming. After winning the Bellator Season 6 Featherweight Tournament, Straus suffered a broken hand and was sidelined indefinitely. After nearly a year on the sidelines, Straus is ready to finally fight for the title, as well as erasing a 2009 loss that still haunts the Ohio native.

“It’s finally here. I’ve faced so many setbacks over the last year, and my title shot is finally here,” Straus said. “When Pat and I met in 2009, we were two completely different fighters. Both of us have developed so much in that time, but I still want that loss of my record. That fight taught me a lot about where I was as a fighter, especially considering I’ve gone 17-1 since we last met. I’m just excited to be able to get a chance to fight for a title on a huge stage like this. I really don’t know how this fight is going to end, but I envision it going quickly. This won’t be a long, drawn out process. I’m going in for the kill.”

For more information, visit Bellator.com, follow Bellator on Twitter @BellatorMMA, follow Bellator Chairman & CEO Bjorn Rebney @BjornRebney and check out Bellator on Facebook at www.facebook.com/BellatorMMA           

Bellator MMA is the world’s largest tournament based Mixed Martial Arts organization. Televised to nearly 500 Million homes worldwide in over 135 countries, Bellator’s majority owner is entertainment giant Viacom.  In the United States, Bellator can be seen on Spike TV, the MMA television leader. With over 150 world-class athletes under contract, Bellator is home to many of the sport’s top mixed martial artists. Bellator’s founder & CEO, Bjorn Rebney, is an experienced fighting sports and entertainment executive with a deep commitment to the purity and integrity of the sport of MMA and its athletes.  Bellator’s core philosophy is that title shots should be earned, not given. This belief gave rise to Bellator’s real sport, tournament-based format, which gives Bellator’s tournaments a true playoff feel that keeps the sport true and distances itself from the subjective side of fighting sports found in organizations that utilize a matchmaking/casting formula.  Bellator MMA is comprised of an executive team that includes top industry professionals in television production, live event orchestration, fighter development/relations, venue procurement, sponsorship creation/development, international licensing, marketing, advertising, publicity and commission relations.  Bellator is based in Newport Beach, California.

Spike TV is available in 98.7 million homes and is a division of Viacom Media Networks.  A unit of Viacom (NASDAQ: VIA, VIAB), Viacom Media Networks is one of the world’s leading creators of programming and content across all media platforms.  Spike TV’s Internet address is www.spike.com and for up-to-the-minute and archival press information and photographs, visit Spike TV’s press site at http://www.spike.com/press.  Follow us on Twitter @spiketvpr for the latest in breaking news updates, behind-the-scenes information and photos.

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