As a result of an injury, Bellator Season Two Lightweight tournament winner Pat Curran will no longer face Bellator Lightweight Champion Eddie Alvarez at Bellator 33. Instead, UFC veteran Roger “El Matador” Huerta will battle Alvarez in a non-title bout. MMAjunkie.com first reported on the change.
Huerta recently became the subject of discussion after jumping to the aid of a woman in Austin, Texas. He was filmed allegedly getting into a street fight with a man who had struck the woman and received near-universal support for his actions. He will now return to the cage for the first time since May.
Huerta (21-4-1, 1 NC) was seen as an early favourite to win last season’s Lightweight tournament and he advanced to the second round with a submission of Chad Hinton at Bellator 13. However, the ex-UFC star was upset by Curran at Bellator 17 and questions regarding his future with the promotion immediately surfaced. With talk this week that Huerta may be unhappy with his Bellator contract, the promotion has seemingly taken steps to appease him and Huerta will now get a shot at redemption when he faces Alvarez in non-title action.
Alvarez (20-2-0), once known as a one-dimensional striker, has won five straight fights by submission and has proven that he is more than capable of holding his own on the ground. He has emerged victorious in ten of his last 11 fights, with the lone blemish coming in a WAMMA Unified Lightweight Championship bout with DREAM ace Shinya “Tobikan Judan” Aoki. Most recently, Alvarez choked out UFC veteran Josh “The Dentist” Neer on the same Bellator 17 card as Huerta’s upset loss to Curran. With Curran on the sidelines, Alvarez will now compete in a superfight with Huerta instead.
Bellator 33 is currently set to take place on October 21st at the Kansas City Power & Light District in Kansas City, Missouri, but an additional report from MMAWeekly.com has suggested that the event could be moved to Alvarez’s hometown of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
(Photo Credit: Sherdog.com)