Bellator announced yesterday the addition of two new fights to the upcoming Bellator 133: Shlemenko vs. Manhoef event, which takes place February 13 at Save Mart Center in Fresno, California, and for Tuesday’s MMA Odds and Ends I’ll give my thoughts on both of these great matchups. Pat Curran vs. Daniel Weichel Former Bellator featherweight champion Pat Curran returns to the cage for the first time since losing the belt against Patricio Pitbull when he takes on featherweight tournament winner Daniel Weichel in a three-round fight. I absolutely love this fight, and I expect a fantastic show from two tremendous featherweight fighters. Obviously Curran is one of the best in the world, having been a former champion in Bellator, but he really needs to rebound after a lopsided loss to Pitbull. It won’t be easy to do that against Weichel, an underrated fighter who defeated Desmond Green by submission win in the last Bellator featherweight tourney in July, but if he can score a win over Weichel, there’s no doubt he deserves another crack at the belt. I feel bad for Weichel because he earned a title shot and won’t get it without going through Curran first, but at the same time I think this is a great mixed martial arts match on paper and I’m okay with Bellator booking this fight instead of having Weichel sit out any longer. I really think Weichel has a better chance here against Curran than most think, and while I expect Curran to be the favorite heading into the fight, it’s competitive enough on paper that if Weichel gets heavy undervalued by the betting public like he normally is while Curran gets overvalued as usual, Weichel could be worth playing. But we’ll see about that when the lines come out in February. Julia Budd vs. Talita Nogueira The Bellator women’s featherweight division will roll on with the booking of a fight between Julia Budd and Talita Nogueira. Budd, a former Strikeforce contender, was released by Invicta to sign with Bellator’s new women’s featherweight division, while Nogueira will be making her United States debut after racking up a 6-0 record while fighting in her native Brazil. I don’t know enough about Nogueira yet, but Budd is a strong featherweight and solid all around and this should be a competitive fight. Budd always gets respect from the betting public but Nogueira has the hype behind her, and I’m expecting a close line for this fight when it comes out. I don’t have a great read on it, though, and realistically it could probably go either way.
