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| Credit Bellator MMA |
Bellator MMA is about to turn eight years-old; and the promotion returns to action with a solid show on January 16 from the Pechanga Resort & Casino, Temecula, California. The event is headlined by a tasty featherweight title showdown, as Patricio "Pitbull" Freire (22-2) defends his crown against Daniel Straus (23-5).
Believe it or not, but these two men are entwined in a peculiarly winding tale, which started nearly four years ago. Alongside Pat Curran, they have played an interesting game of hot potato with the world title, but is the spud starting to cool down now that it's in the hands of Freire?
Pitbull will make the first defence of his featherweight gold, as he faces Straus for the second time in his career. Both men originally met at Bellator 45, 2011, in the season four featherweight tournament finale. It was Freire who came out on top in that fight with a fairly one sided unanimous decision win.
Over a year and a half later, the Brazilian would get his title fight against Curran at Bellator 85, but Pitbull would be on the side of a extremely close split decision loss.
Just ten months later, Straus would finish where his Bellator 132 opponent failed, defeating the tough Curran by unanimous decision at Bellator 106. The Ohio based fighter negated Curran early on, evading his swift attacks, and utilising a strong wrestling game to capture the first major title of his career.
The American Top Team fighter would drop the belt in May, 2014, as a reinvigorated Curran fought a smart game plan to negate the awkwardness of Straus. Curran slid in a rear-naked-choke at the death of round five to reclaim his 145 pound championship.
Re-enter, Pitbull. After his split loss to Curran, Freire went on a dangerous four fight win streak, toppling top contenders Diego Nunes and Justin Wilcox in emphatic knockout fashion on his way back to the number one spot.
At Bellator 123, the older Pitbull brother would reap revenge from the previous year, as he negated Curran's efforts to control the pace of the fight, and employed brilliant boxing to keep a broken Curran at bay.
Now, the story comes full circle for both Freire and Straus, who have paralleled each other in Bellator on their way to the top of the featherweight division. This rematch brings a lot of new elements that were not in play during the fist fight. Straus is now much more comfortable on the ground, and has tightened up his striking tremendously.
However, Pitbull is varied in style too. The BJJ black belt has grown much more patient in his attacks, which is something that let him down in his first clash with Curran. The fight will be intriguing, as two fighters who represent two extremely different forms of MMA, whilst sharing a definitive story; will for one fighter, come full circle.
Straus will purge vengeance or Pitbull will solidify himself as one of the best featherweights in the world. It's that simple.
Daniel Straus keys to victory:
- Avoid the bottom ground game with Pitbull
- Look for the big right hook
- Assert pressure
Patricio Freire keys to victory
- Be patient with striking
- Take the fight to the ground
- Counter strike effectively
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