Jeff Curran “Staring at the Title” – Interview
By Justin Bolduc
PunchDrunkGamer’s Justin Bolduc caught up with featherweight contender Jeff Curran to discuss his upcoming bout with Urijah Faber, as well as the rise of the featherweight division, and more.
PDG: In December you have a big fight lined up against Urijah Faber for the WEC’s featherweight title. What do you think about your opponent and what are you doing to prepare for him?
Jeff: Well my thoughts on him are pretty high, I respect him. I don’t put him down. I don’t think he has many weaknesses as a fighter, that’s why he holds the position that he does. I haven’t seen him take a whole lot of punches, so that is one avenue that isn’t too touched on, but I’m hoping he doesn’t take punches too well.
As far as preparation, I’m just doing my normal thing. I’m not going to try to become a better wrestler than him overnight. I’m just going to keep focus on my strengths, get my ground game tight and my stand-up sharp – and of course work a little on the wrestling side, but nothing too drastic.
PDG: You have obviously faced a higher level of competition than he has; do you think that this is going to play a role in this fight?
Jeff: On paper it should, but he’s been competing at the top level his whole life, whether it’s MMA or wrestling. He knows what it’s like to rise up. I’d like to think that it plays a little bit of a role with me being out there for a lot of three-round wars, and just going out there and doing some long fights against some tough guys – it tests a lot of your heart. I don’t know how many wars he has been in that weren’t so one-sided on his end, so I’m hoping it plays a little bit of a factor.
PDG: If he takes you down, how comfortable do you feel matching your jiu-jitsu with his wrestling?
Jeff: My jiu-jitsu is its best against wrestlers. My biggest thing is fighting myself, I get comfortable and I take my time. I just need to go to town. I need to get out there and start picking him apart and seeing what he does. I need to get after it a little more than normal, but at the same time I have a whole fight. He’s going to have to ground-and-pound me for five rounds, and it doesn’t matter who it is, I have a pretty good defense – I tie people up pretty well and I can take a punch pretty good. I’m never counted out. It’s kind of coming down to that. I’m pretty comfortable being on my back so I don’t really care if he takes me down. The weight is on his shoulders because he’s going to think he can stand and bang with me, which is good for him. My boxing has been tested more in boxing gyms, Thai boxing gyms, and boxing fights more than it has in MMA, so I am comfortable with my hands and my ability to hurt people with my hands. You haven’t seen a lot of it in MMA, but if I can just pull that trigger and let it rip then I should be on to something.
PDG: You’ve been in there with some of the more notable fighters in your division like Hatsu Hioki, Antonio Carvalho, and “Kid” Yamamoto, but you’ve also faced newer fighters, and some that aren’t very well known. At your level how do you feel about the broad range of opposition that you face?
Jeff: I wish that lighter weights were being compensated enough to take those high level fights all the time. The WEC deal, I like it because I don’t have to fight seven times a year. Even though I like to stay busy, I don’t want to fight mid-level guys – I don’t want to fight low-level guys. I don’t mind fighting unknown guys, like Stephen Ledbetter who is 5-0 and brings it. I don’t have any problem with that, everyone has to get a chance. But I don’t feel like I’m at a point in my career where I have to fight to stay busy against a guy that is 3-10 just to stay busy and get a win. I don’t want that, and never really did. I’ve wanted a few warm-up fights when I’ve come off injuries, like an arm surgery from a break that I had, and a knee surgery. I had to test myself to see if I could withstand the fight before I got in there with top level guys. But the Hioki’s, the Carvalho’s, the Yamamoto’s, the Faber’s, and the [Ivan] Menjivar’s – those are the guys that I want to fight. There are a couple guys in Shooto that we can hopefully start mixing with again, and hopefully they will want to come over and compete on the stage on this side, rather than us have to travel to Asia to do it. So the top level of 145 is a pretty tight-knot of people. If you go through the top of the division and look at who beat who at what point in their career it is almost as if everyone has beat everyone. I beat Carvalho who beat “Lion” Takeshi Inoue, and Inoue beat him, Hioki beat me, [Akitoshi] Tamura beat Hioki and Inoue… the list goes on. Match-ups make fights, and timing in peoples’ lives make fights. It would be really nice to keep that high level of 145-pound fighters fighting each other to decide who is number one, and I think Faber and me is a really good start.
PDG: A lot of fans criticize the featherweight division in America and claim that Shooto is at the top with their 143-pound class. How do you think the featherweights here in America stack up with the fighters in Shooto?
Jeff: I don’t buy it. I’d honestly call it 50/50. I don’t say that America has the best 145-pounders in the world compared to Japan. Japan has a good chunk of them and we have a good chunk of them. Carvalho has been living in Japan from what I hear, and he’s a Shooto grown fighter regardless, so you kind of put him in the mix with them. And if you do the math like I said everyone has beat everyone on paper if you start to cross-reference everyone’s opponents. I look at it like you have Wagnney Fabiano, he’s a lightweight in the IFL right now, he’s out here on our side, and Rafael Assuncao – and all these guys at 145, and they are all top, top level guys. They are going to do numbers on a lot of these guys in Japan, and I just know that from experience. Guys like Tamura and the top three that are over there, they deserve their positions, but until we fight each other it’s going to be really hard to decide.
PDG: How would you break down the top five in your division?
Jeff: It would probably change if you asked me tomorrow. I have to look at it in a sense where if you look at Faber, someone with his record of 19-1… it’s really unmatched if you compare it to those guys that are 11-2, 9-1, or 8-0 over in Japan – I don’t know their records specifically, but Faber’s the WEC champ. Then if you take the Shooto champ, Tamura, and those guys can flip-flop for one and two if you like. Three and up can be anything really, it can be Inoue, Carvalho, myself, Yamamoto – I don’t think Yamamoto deserves to be in the top two for sure because he hasn’t been active. You can’t disappear for a year and just come back and hold your seat. He has to win now that he’s back and we’ll see where he sits in the mix of things. I think the top five is pretty accurate if you look at it on most websites and may be off a seed or two.
PDG: Faber currently has a lot of hype behind him – he’s actually one of the most hyped fighters at this point; do you think the hype behind him coming into this fight is going to be a problem for him considering your experience?
Jeff: I don’t think so. I think it’s a fuel for him; he’s wired from that kind of stuff. I think he’s the kind of guy that is driven by the attention. The more he pushes himself and people push him to be the better guy, he’s going to be the better guy. It’s good for him. I could care less, I mean it feels good to have the support, but it also feels good to be the underdog. People think Curran can’t handle Faber, I mean where did they get that? And what makes people think that I’m going to destroy Faber? It is such a good fight and it just comes down to opinions very and it is what it is.
PDG: On the flipside, how does all the hype affect you?
Jeff: Oh it affects me. I’d be lying if I said I don’t want that. I feel like, not just for myself, but my family and friends that have supported me, my teammates and my coaches that have been behind me for years and years while nothing was happening; I think it’s time that we surround ourselves with a little bit of help and surround ourselves with what goes on behind my gym door and start getting recognized as a team over all, and not just Jeff Curran. I want that, I want the power that comes with it being in the driver seat to give some opportunities to some of my guys that are coming up the ladder.
PDG: With the 145-pound division a lot of casual fans aren’t very familiar with you and count you out. A lot of them see Faber as the be-all-end-all of the division. Does that get to you at all, or at this point in your career with all of your experience is that not really even a factor?
Jeff: Well all the experience I have is just that, experience. If I read a story or see a commercial where he’s all hyped up, or if I browsed the Internet and read what people write… who knows? But the bottom line is if I let that get to me I haven’t learned anything over the years. It is a fight and it comes down to who is more prepared and who shows up to win. I don’t use it at all against me; it’s more motivating then anything. Seeing Faber on Warrior Nation is when I first said “you know what, I’m really sick of seeing him.” I’m sick of seeing him and hearing about him without a chance to fight him, and that’s nothing personal against him. He could be the nicest guy in the world, the saint of all saints, but while he’s getting all the exposure and I’m sitting here in the Midwest I think why can’t I get a shot against someone like him instead of fight a 50-50 guy on a local show for a few thousand dollars. So it gets me fired up in a since where I need to get out there and get a shot at this guy, whether he’s the best in the world or not, he’s the guy that people think is the best. In my opinion I think he’s one of the top few in the heap, he needs to be respected and he’s dangerous – I just can’t wait to get out there and get it on to be honest with you.
PDG: Someone you mentioned earlier was “Kid” Yamamoto. He’s now back and HERO’S now has a featherweight division. How would you like to rematch him – I mean along with Faber he’s pretty much right there as the next guy people are talking about?
Jeff: You know, my third round with “Kid” was my best round, I was tired and I was beat up. Granted he’s gotten better since that fight as well, but I feel like I’ve tripled in my abilities since that fight. And at the same time when I fought him he hadn’t been against anyone that really tested him. If you look at it on paper he had one loss to Stephan Palling that was pretty much a fluke – a ten second fluke. Nobody knew what this guy would do against real top level guys. I was like yeah, this guy has been built – I kind of went at the fight like this guy is too small for me, but I got out there and it was a wake up call for two rounds. Come third round I’m still hanging in there and thinking next time this is going to be different; it’s going to be a very different fight. I cannot wait for that fight, I would rather fight that fight than any other in the world because he’s such a fireball and a freak – I can’t wait! I hope someday before I’m too old [laughs].
PDG: Now people are taking notice of the WEC and more people are becoming excited for the smaller weight classes. Now you’re jumping into the spotlight. How does it feel as someone working at their division for a while finally see it become noticed?
Jeff: It is a dream come true. You watch boxing and everybody is doing there thing in every division and being successful – having opportunities. Then you feel like yours went by and it’s not going to happen in your generation, but now it’s happening. Whether the money is what it will be in ten years, it doesn’t matter. We’re finally recognized and we get a chance to show our stuff. Faber has done a lot with the 145-pound division, representing and showing what kind of athletes we have at this class. I think putting Faber and myself against each other is going to kick it all off – it’s going to kick the division into high gear. Especially a loss to me, if he comes out and loses to me then there is a whole new hype. I think it opens up so much interest; we’re two entirely different people and we come from different walks of life. I think Faber enjoyed his ride and story along the way, but I think it’s time to change chapters.
PDG: To wrap things up, is there anything else you’d like to say?
Jeff: I’d like to say a special thanks to Tapout; these guys have really jumped in – not just for me, but for lots of fighters, and have done a nice, new approach to promoting the sport and fighters in their up-and-coming stages of their career. I think it is interesting and admirable, and these guys are taking care of people across the board including myself and my team, so a special thanks to them. Obviously I have to give special thanks out to Fairtex too. Those guys are always right by my side. As far as sponsors go I want to thank those two guys for sure. I want to thank my team here at Team Curran, Pedro Sauer, my jiu-jitsu professor for everything he has done, my boxing coach Doug Mango. I thank everybody.
