Pat Curran

After a year and a half long layoff, Curran returned to face rising Featherweight prospect A.J. McKee at Bellator 221 on May 11, 2019. He lost the fight via unanimous decision. In the heels of the defeat, Curran signed a contract extension with Bellator.

Curran faced Georgi Karakhanyan at Bellator 155 on May 20, 2016. In the first round, Curran knocked down his opponent with a left hand. Karakhanyan managed to recover and fight on, but in the end Curran won via unanimous decision.

Curran was expected to face John Teixeira at Bellator 167 on December 3, 2016, however, Curran pulled out of the bout due to an injury and was replaced by Justin Lawrence. The bout with Teixeira was rescheduled for Bellator 184 on October 6, 2017. Curran won the fight by unanimous decision.

Curran faced Daniel Weichel on February 13, 2015 at Bellator 133. He lost the fight via split decision.

Curran was expected to face Goiti Yamauchi at Bellator 139 on June 26, 2015. However, Yamauchi pulled out of the fight due to injury. Curran instead faced Emmanuel Sanchez at the event. He won the fight via unanimous decision.

Curran was expected to face Justin Lawrence at Bellator 145 on November 6, 2015. Curran pulled out of the bout due to a knee injury.

Curran was scheduled to make the first defense of his new title in a rematch with Patricio Freire on June 6, 2014 at Bellator 121. However, on May 21, it was announced that Curran had pulled out of the bout due to a calf injury. The rematch eventually took place at Bellator 123 on September 5, 2014. Curran lost the bout to Freire by unanimous decision.

In his first title defense, Curran faced Patricio Freire at Bellator 85 on January 17, 2013. He successfully defended his title for the first time, winning the fight via split decision.

Curran put his Bellator Featherweight Championship on the line on November 2, 2013 at Bellator 106 in a rematch against Daniel Mason-Straus. He was unsuccessful with his third title defense, losing the fight by unanimous decision.

A match-up against Bellator Season One Champion Eddie Alvarez was anticipated for Season Three, but Curran was forced out of the contest due to a shoulder injury. Fighting in his place, Roger Huerta took on Alvarez in a non-title bout at Bellator 33 and lost via TKO due to a doctor stoppage. Curran's bout with Alvarez took place on April 2, 2011 at Bellator 39. He lost the fight via unanimous decision, with the judges scoring it 49-46, 50-45 and 50-45 in favor of Alvarez.

Curran dropped to his original fight weight of 145 lbs to enter the Bellator 2011 Summer Series Featherweight Tournament. In his quarterfinal bout Curran submitted Luis Palomino via Peruvian necktie in the first round.

Curran took part in a Trojan MMA event, where he defeated former Cage Rage British Lightweight Championship contender Robbie Olivier on February 27, 2010 via unanimous decision.

Once again, returning to XFO, Curran next faced Luke Gwaltney, winning by TKO in the first. On October 10, 2009 he faced Jay Ellis in an XFO event, where he defeated his opponent in under a minute, submitting him with a Guillotine Choke.

Curran spent much of his youth crafting his skills on the playground with boxing gloves. Curran was a Florida High School wrestling stand-out who went on to study Brazilian jiu-jitsu with his cousin Jeff Curran at the young age of 17. It was during this summer of training that Curran decided to pursue mixed martial arts as a career. Curran made his debut in 2008, against Tony Hervey, a future King of the Cage Lightweight Champion. Curran won the bout. Curran had his second professional bout against Lazar Stojadinovic, who previously had a dominating performance over Curran's teammate Ben Miller. The bout was featured on the Tapout reality series on the Versus Channel, giving Curran his first mainstream performance.

Pat Curran (born August 31, 1987) is an American mixed martial artist, and a former two-time Bellator Featherweight World Champion. He is the cousin of World Extreme Cagefighting veteran Jeff Curran and fought primarily with Xtreme Fighting Organization (XFO) before signing with Bellator, where he is the winner of Bellator Season Two Lightweight Tournament and the Bellator 2011 Summer Series. He is currently the #15 Featherweight in the world by fightmatrix.com.