When you heard the name of Daniel Straus’ (22-6, 9-3 Bellator) opponent for this Friday’s Bellator 138 event in St. Louis, you more than likely either shrugged your shoulders, or wondered why he wasn’t getting a fight against one of the bigger names on the roster. Or you did both.
Straus is set to welcome King of the Cage champion Henry Corrales (12-0, 0-0) to the world’s second largest promotion this Friday at the Scottrade Center as part of the main card at Bellator 138, which features Ken Shamrock vs. Kimbo Slice in the main event.
The booking against a relatively unknown fighter would seem to place Straus as the official gatekeeper for the featherweight division at this point, and with a 1-2 record in his last three outings he may be exactly that.
But if you look a little deeper into Straus’ record, you see that he’s an impressive 20-0 against fighters not named Pat Curran (20-7, 10-4) or Patricio “Pitbull” Freire (23-2, 11-2) since 2009.
Against perhaps the two best featherweights on the Bellator roster he’s just 1-4 in that same timespan, with the lone win coming against Curran in a 2013 bout that earned the Cincinnati native the organization’s 145-pound title.
Featherweight has always been perhaps the deepest division on the Bellator roster, with current champion Freire, Curran, and Friday’s title challenger Daniel Weichel (35-8, 4-0) holding down the top spots currently. Then you also throw in former World Series of Fighting champion Georgi Karakhanyan (24-4-1, 3-2) and young guns like Goiti Yamauchi (18-2, 4-1) and John Teixeira (18-1-2, 2-0), and it could be a steeper climb back to the top for Straus than he would like.
Straus told MMAjunkie that he doesn’t plan to be Corrales’ stepping stone on Friday night, though:
“I know he’s tough, I know he’s strong; he has a good heart and wants to make a name for himself. That’s fine and that’s good, we all start in that spot, but the only difference is I’m in another spot now. I’ve made a name for myself and I’m going to keep my name going. I’m going to keep winning, I’m going to keep fighting and keep battling.”
Corrales has produced 10 stoppages in his 12 victories, while Straus has just 9 stoppages over the span of his 22 victories. Nevertheless, Straus has proven to be an exciting and well-rounded fighter who is one of the top contenders on the Bellator roster.
Straus can start with his plan to keep winning on Friday night, and with a victory a bigger fight could be just around the corner.
Bellator 138 airs Friday night on Spike TV from the Scottrade Center in St. Louis, Missouri. The main card, including the headliner featuring Ken Shamrock vs. Kevin “Kimbo Slice” Ferguson, the co-feature pitting featherwight champ Patricio “Pitbull” Freire against challenger Daniel Weichel, and Straus vs. Corrales, begins at 9pm ET.