Pat Curran (born August 31, 1987) is a retired American mixed martial artist, and a former two-time Bellator Featherweight World Champion.
Curran made his debut in 2008, against Tony Hervey, a future King of the Cage Lightweight Champion.
The bout was featured on the Tapout reality series on the Versus Channel, giving Curran his first mainstream performance.
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.
He was defeated in his next fight with XFO, at the hands of Travis Perzynski, losing by rear naked choke in the second 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.
His first round match-up was announced to be UFC Welterweight Champion Georges St-Pierre's protégé, Mike Ricci and the fight took place at Bellator 14.
However, a little more than midway through the round, Curran connected on a powerful right hook that sent opponent Mike Ricci crashing to the mat where he stayed unconscious for a few uncomfortable minutes after a few follow up punches.
Huerta was heavily favored going in to the fight, but Curran impressed over three rounds and went home with a unanimous decision, winning 29-28 on all three judges scorecards.
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.
[6] Curran dropped to his original fight weight of 145 lbs to enter the Bellator 2011 Summer Series Featherweight Tournament.
Curran defeated Sandro four minutes into the second round via a highlight reel head-kick KO, in the process becoming the first person to win Bellator tournaments in two different weight classes.
Curran defeated Warren by a brutal KO in round three to win the Bellator Featherweight Championship.
[15] An instant rematch drew criticism for Bellator from MMA pundits and fans, as many felt that Curran, who had previously lost his last match to Straus and not won a tournament for a rematch, had not done enough to earn a title shot over waiting tournament winners Patricio Freire and Magomedrasul Khasbulaev.
[16] He won the bout via rear-naked choke submission in the fifth round thus, ending their trilogy and winning the Bellator Featherweight Championship for the second time.
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.
[26] After a year and a half long layoff, Curran returned to face rising Featherweight prospect A.J.