by Matt Lo Cascio
XFO 29 was an historic event for a few reasons. The event took place April 17, 2009, and featured the organization’s first female fight, with Buffalo Grove’s Felice “L’il Bulldog” Herrig dropping a split decision to Valerie Coolbaugh.
XFO 29 also featured the first fight between Pat Curran and Daniel Straus. The rematch comes Saturday night, with Curran’s Bellator featherweight title on the line.
Curran suffered his first professional loss to Indiana’s Darren Elkins at C3 a few months before the Straus fight. He came back from that just a month later to beat current UFC fighter Ramiro Hernandez Jr. at Adrenaline II, on a card that featured Pat Miletich, Ben Rothwell, Mike Ciesnolevicz, LC Davis and Chicago’s Mike Russow.
The Straus fight would be Curran’s fourth fight in just five months, with both the Elkins and Hernandez Jr. fights going the distance. It turned out to be significant not just because of the upcoming rematch, but also because that fight featured Curran’s first professional knockout.
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