Johnny Eduardo (James Law/HeavyMMA)
Bantamweights booked for May 15 show in Fairfax
Jeff Curran will once again go after his long-awaited first UFC win in May.
Curran will fight Johnny Eduardo in a bantamweight bout when the UFC returns to Fairfax, Va., for UFC on Fuel TV 3. UFC officials recently announced the fight, which is expected to be a part of the preliminary card for the May 15 event at the Patriot Center.
Curran (33-14-1, 0-2 UFC) first fought in the UFC at UFC 46 in January 2004, but suffered a unanimous decision loss to future welterweight champion Matt Serra in a lightweight bout. After that loss, Curran had a stretch of 14 wins in 15 fights with the only loss coming to Hatsu Hioki in Pride. On the strength of those wins, Curran signed with the WEC and won his debut at featherweight for the promotion – earning a title shot against then-champ Urijah Faber.
But his second-round submission loss to “The California Kid” set off a stretch of four straight WEC losses – to Mike Brown, Joseph Benavidez and a controversial split decision setback to Takeya Mizuagaki. The Mizugaki loss got him his release from the WEC with just a 1-4 record. But Curran won four of his next five fights, including one for Strikeforce, and got a return call from the UFC. But at UFC 137 in October, Curran lost a unanimous decision to former title challenger Scott Jorgensen, leaving him still in serach of his first UFC win.
Eduardo (25-9, 0-1 UFC) made his UFC debut at UFC 134 in his home country of Brazil, but was dominated by Raphael Assuncao with a unanimous decision loss on the preliminary card. The veteran fighter had an 11-fight winning streak going into that fight, including a win for Bellator. Of the bantamweight’s 25 career victories, 13 have come by submission.
UFC on Fuel 3 will take place at the Patriot Center in Fairfax. It will be the UFC’s second visit to that venue, which is located just outside Washington, D.C. UFC Fight Night 20 also took place there in January 2010. The card is expected to be headlined by a featherweight contenders bout between Dustin Poirier and “The Korean Zombie,” Chan Sung Jung.