But we may be back Friday to talk Strikeforce, Dream, and more. Stay tuned.

mmaconsortium:

Soon after a report surfaced that Paul Daley signed with Bellator Fighting Championships, subsequent reports shot it down and confirmed the former UFC fighter remains a free agent.

But as usual,…

BJPENN.COM is reposrting he’s signing with the organization, MMAFIGHTING.COM is saying it’s not true.

Regardless, the signing would add yet another one of MMA’s exciting, and very talented young athletes to Bellator’s ever growing, and impressive roster.

Daley was dropped from the UFC after his loss to Josh Koscheck in a number one contender match when Daley threw an illegal punch after the bell.

Daley will fight in Austrailia’s IMPACT FC 2 this month, and his addition to Bellator would undoubtly enter him into the organizations top contenders considering he was considered a UFC top welterweight prospect.

Stay tuned for more details

CURRAN EDGES IMADA IN SPLIT DECISCION FOR BELLATOR LIGHTWEIGHT FINALS
Thoughts and more on the fight…

Few stories in MMA this year are as incredible as Pat Curran’s rise to fame in this season’s Bellator lightweight tournament. I doubted I would be as surprised as when Curran beat UFC veteran Roger Huerta in the second round, however, I was wrong.

In tonight’s tournament final against last year’s finalist (ultimately losing to Eddie Alvarez) Toby Imada, Curran looked timid the entire fight. In the first round Imada pressed toughly against the cage for almost the entire round while aggresively throwing knees to the midsection of Curran. Later in the round a takedown was given and Curran quickly scrambled to his feet. I gave that round easily to Imada.

In the second round Curran continue to circle away and poke shots in. In this round both fighters connected with some shots, but not anything truly damaging. Again, Imada struggled to take down Curran, however he was extremely physically controlling the entire round, all while Curran continued to circle away. A close round, but I gave that one to Imada as well.

In the final round, as I figured, Curran would have to go for broke since he was down two rounds. However, this wasn’t the case. Imada poked more shots, clinched from time to time and even got a takedown this round. There was one point however in which Imada went for a takedown but Curran quickly evaded it in very sleek fashion. Finally, the big point of the round was a clean and quick shot to the right eye of Imada. In fact, the punch stumbled Imada, a definite chance for Curran to swarm in with a flurry of punches, however, he backs off. This round, despite the elusiveness to avoid one takedown, and the punishing blow that opened up a large cut, I actually gave that third round to Imada as well because of the lack of aggression on behalf of Curran.

The results were shocking…
When the split decision scores were read, the final judge calling it for Curran had my jaw on the floor. Now, I love great stories like Curran’s any day, and I am now a Pat Curran fan, however, when you have both a title shot, and 100k on the line it wasn’t too easy to sit and watch. Regardless, as I said, I am a Pat Curran fan and he looks to be one of the toughest young prospects in the lightweight division today, but, I think he is definitely going to have a problem with the quickness and strength of Eddie Alvarez, not to mention the fact that he is easily in the top 10 lightweights in the world. Should be a good one nonetheless.