The main event of Bellator 112 is a five-round title fight trilogy match between current Bellator featherweight champion Daniel Straus and former champ Pat “Paddy Mike” Curran. The current betting line for the fight at Several Bookmakers lists Straus as a -175 favorite (bet $175 to win $100) while Curran is a +145 underdog (bet $100 to win $145). MMA oddsmaker Nick Kalikas originally opened up Straus at -180 and Curran at +140, so there has been two-way action on the fight as the line has tightened. Despite the two-way betting action, I am picking the favorite to come through here as I see Straus getting his hand raised and winning the trilogy with Curran. Here’s why. Straus (22-4) is the current Bellator featherweight champion, having defeated Curran at Bellator 106 to avenge his previous knockout defeat to Curran on the regional circuit. Despite entering Bellator 106 as a big underdog, Straus dominated the fight from bell to bell and absolutely deserved the unanimous decision nod over the champion that night. He has great wrestling, decent size for the 145 lb division, improving striking, and he trains at a great camp with American Top Team (ATT) in Coconut Creek, Florida. He is currently riding a six-fight win streak and is 18-1 overall over his last 19 fights. At 29 years of age, Straus is currently right in the middle of his prime and another victory over Curran would cement him as one of the top 10 featherweights in the world. Curran (19-5) was the Bellator featherweight champ but dropped the belt in a huge upset to Straus back in November 2013. But now Bellator has given him an immediate rematch and the chance to regain his belt back. After dealing with personal issues outside the cage, Curran says he is 100 percent focused on the task at hand and promises to get back the belt he once held. The 26-year-old is a very well-rounded fighter with solid wrestling, striking, and submissions. Before losing to Straus, he was often billed as a top-five featherweight fighter. However, that loss really dropped his stock and this rematch is a must-win fight for “Paddy Mike.” For Curran, he hopes this trilogy fight with Straus will go down like the pair’s first outing in the XFO, where he won via KO, and not like the pair’s second fight where he was beaten soundly over the course of five rounds. We’ll see which of the two it is on Friday night. I believe the fight will play out closer to how the second fight between these two went than the first, as I see Straus being able to use his size and grappling edge to control Curran over the course of five rounds and win a hard-fought, but well-deserved decision on the judges’ scorecards. At -175, I do see some value in Straus and I think anything under the opener of -180 is worthy of a bet. This fight is likely to be more competitive than their last fight but I still see Straus getting his hand raised so I don’t think there is any value on Curran at the current dog price. There is also a total on this bout that has been set at 4.5 rounds. I lean the over, but this trilogy fight could very well end inside of five rounds so I would recommend passing on that total altogether.
