Pat Curran talks about the chance to make the money he has dreamed of

Bellator 226 kicks off the Featherweight Grand Prix. A couple of guys, including Pat Curran, have been with the promotion long enough to remember when tournaments where everything; but this tournament has much more on the line than in the past.

Having been with the promotion for so long, does a tournament bring back some of those old feelings?

“I haven’t even had the first fight of the tournament yet, but it kind of feels that way, yes and no. It’s a totally different tournament for a lot more money.”

A million dollars, regaining the title, how big of an opportunity is this for you?

“This is life-changing man. I’ve never expected to be in a $1 million tournament. When I first got into this sport, I was young, immature, I didn’t know what the pay scale was. I knew I wanted to make as much money as possible and I wanted to become a millionaire doing this. And that’s why I put so much time into it. Now I’m given this opportunity. This is kind of almost like a dream come true. I have the chance to make a million dollars, become a millionaire at something that I’m great at, what I love to do, and most importantly change my family’s life forever. This could pay my son’s college tuition, gets him more opportunities to be involved with sports or extra activities outside of just school. I can provide a better house a better living situation for him. So, this is a life-changing deal and I’m taking full advantage of it. I got the call. I was happy to say ‘yes’. I said ‘yes’ right away. I got the contract to them soon as I could. We got back to the gym and started to work at it again.”

Bellator 226 is set for September 7 at the SAP Center in San Jose, California.

Check out the full interview at the top of the page.

Main Card

Heavyweight Title: (champ) Ryan Bader (27-5) vs. Cheick Kongo (30-10-2)
Featherweight Grand Prix Quarterfinal: Daniel Straus (26-8) vs. Derek Campos (19-9)
Featherweight Grand Prix Quarterfinal: Pat Curran (23-8) vs. Adam Borics (13-0)
Featherweight Grand Prix Quarterfinal: Emmanuel Sanchez (18-4) vs. Ty-wan Claxton (5-0)
Featherweight Grand Prix Quarterfinal: Sam Sicilia (16-9) vs. Pedro Carvalho (10-3)
Featherweight: Gaston Bolanos (5-1) vs. Daniel Carey (6-3)

Prelims