Jeff Curran – Fighting for more than just a belt

By Thomas Gerbasi

Fame is nice, more money is even better, but Jeff Curran really isn't fazed by that type of stuff as he enters the biggest fight of his nine year career on Wednesday against WEC Featherweight Champion Urijah Faber. In fact, preparing for this bout has pretty much been business as usual for the “Big Frog”.

“The past couple of years I’ve got some steady attention as far as media goes – local websites, MMA sites, and every once in a while a newspaper – and I guess there’s been a little bit more of that because of the WEC’s promotional team,” said Curran. “But I haven’t had anything too major change. It’s been pretty steady and I’ve been unbothered by everything.”

So if you’re expecting Curran to raise hell about all the national attention being given to the champion over the last year or so while he has waited for his shot at the belt, you’re barking up the wrong tree. But Curran does know that if he dethrones the ‘California Kid’, everything will change for him.

“Faber’s the champ and he deserves all the attention at this point,” said Curran. “I know he’s been out and about and doing a lot more with the media than I have, whether that’s just him trying to do his part or if that’s expected of him as the champion, I don’t know. On my end, I’m the challenger, the one coming up and trying to dethrone him, so I haven’t had as much attention as one would think, but I kinda know in the back of my head that I’m ready for the life change more so after I beat him.”

Frankly, it’s been a long time coming for the veteran battler out of Island Lake, Illinois, who, while only 30 (two years older than Faber), is still seen as the grizzled competitor who has been around for centuries compared to the fresh-faced kid from Sacramento. It’s the type of characterization that brings a chuckle from the Jiu-Jitsu Black Belt.

“I had a conversation with my wife about Faber,” Curran recalls. “We were reading one of his interviews where he kinda calls me a jealous, bitter old man. (Laughs) And number one, I’m only two years older than him, and I’ve never been bitter towards him. I think he deserves everything he’s got. I’ve been bitter towards the sport at times because opportunities weren’t presenting themselves for me, and the bottom line is, since Faber started fighting, our records are almost identical. I’ve got losses on my record that I chalk up more as amateur experience back when the sport was still going through rule adjustments and sometimes there were no rules, and no weight classes, sometimes you wore gloves, sometimes you didn’t. I don’t look at it like I have eight losses and I have a tainted record, and he’s only got one little loss, because in the amount of time he’s been fighting, I’ve got the same record. I’m top of the food chain in the division and there’s no way he can avoid that or deny that. Back when he was coming on the scene and had all these people investing in him because he does have the look, does have an exciting style, and maybe has that flair that the 145 pound division was looking for, people out here in the Midwest really don’t give a s**t. Out on the west coast they might have grabbed a hold of that. Out here they didn’t. I’m out here grinding out every fight, winning, and doing well, and I was happy to get somebody to post my results on Sherdog. He goes in for his first fight and it’s a title fight. So he’s been in the spotlight from the beginning and that’s fine – but he hasn’t walked the same road as me.”

With 40 pro fights under his belt from Green Bay and Quebec to Honolulu and Tokyo, Curran has seen it all in the fight game, both good and bad. And at times, Curran, who could run his martial arts academy and not have to worry about the mental and physical rigors of fighting, has dealt with burnout from the sport. But there’s never been any quit in him, and if anything, with wins in 15 out of his last 16 fights dating back to 2004, he may just be in his prime. So with a world title shot approaching, he’s glad he stuck around through MMA’s dark ages.

“When you work for something in life – you grow up as a kid and you hear it from your parents and you never believe them and then you get older and you realize that you do respect things more in life if you’ve worked hard for them and earned them yourself,” he said. “This is a position that I feel I’ve worked hard for and I’ve earned. I haven’t talked my way to the top, I haven’t kissed the right people’s asses, and I’ve probably pissed more people off along the way because I wouldn’t buy into their little sales gimmicks along the way trying to build me as a fighter. I’ve been humble throughout my career and now it is gratifying that I can sit back and know that I truly deserved the chance to go out on this stage in an organization like the WEC and take the world title and hopefully become a good champion and be a good inspiration for the next generation.”

That next generation includes his eight month old son Ty, who may be the real reason Curran is so determined to beat Faber and win the WEC title.

“He’s gonna have a career in training jiu-jitsu I’m sure, and being a part of what I do, and it’s just one of those things that more than just putting it (the title belt) on display at my gym or on my mantle, I’m looking for it to be something that becomes a family heirloom that passes down to my son and from there on,” he said. “If anything, whether I defended it or not, it puts that whole ‘work hard and you’ll get what you want out of life’ in perspective. It’s a lesson learned and you can stare at it every day.”

And Ty and his mom (and Curran’s wife) Sarah won’t be the only ones cheering Curran on Wednesday night. For the first time in his almost decade long run in the fight game, Curran’s brother will be in attendance at the Hard Rock to watch his younger sibling in action for the first time, a testament not only to how far Curran has come, but how the sport has infiltrated mainstream America.

“My brother is only three years older than I am, and he’s never even watched one of my fights on tape,” said Curran. “Every Christmas, every holiday, he says “I just can’t watch my brother fight.” But he’s coming out to this fight from Denver. This is gonna be the first time he’s ever watched me fight. He follows the sport now and he knows everything about it. He can relate to it because it’s in front of him, and he can see it all the time, so he’s getting really excited.”

Before, explaining his life as a professional prizefighter was awkward at best. Now though, Curran has a growing number of fans between his family and his in-laws.

“Nobody seemed to support it or understand it before,” he said. “Now they’re fans and they want a Team Curran shirt or a signed picture.”

Curran laughs. Did he ever think this day would come?

“I never did,” he said. “I hoped for it. It’s mind boggling.”

Now all he has to do is win, and this unlikely journey will have gotten a fairytale ending. Needless to say, after nine years, he’s ready to take the belt – decisively.

“If you’re gonna be the champ, you’ve got to beat the champ,” said Curran.