FanHouse JeffCurran

HOFFMAN ESTATES, Ill. -- Jeff Curran had not tasted victory since August 2007, but on Saturday night in front of a supportive local crowd, "The Big Frog" finally got his career back on a track with a first-round verbal submission victory against Dustin Neace on the Strikeforce undercard.

FanHouse spoke to Curran about snapping his four-fight losing streak and his upcoming fight on Dec. 5. The video interview is below.

HOFFMAN ESTATES, ILL. -- This is the Strikeforce live blog for the first five preliminary bouts on the Fedor vs. Rogers card featuring welterweights Mark Miller vs. Deray Davis, John Kolosci vs. Shamar Bailey, bantamweights Jeff Curran vs. Dustin Neace, lightweights Christian Uflacker vs. Jonatas Novaes and middleweights Louis Taylor vs. Nate Moore.

The first bout is scheduled to begin at 7:00 PM ET. The live blog begins below.

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HOFFMAN ESTATES, ILL. -- Jeff Curran will not let his four-fight losing streak get to him. He also won't let the fact that he was recently released from World Extreme Cagefighting rattle his confidence. That's because "The Big Frog" believes he deserved to win his most recent fight against Takeya Mizugaki and his free agent status allowed him to fight in his home state on the undercard of the Strikeforce on CBS event this weekend.

FanHouse spoke to Curran on Thursday about getting his career back and track beginning with his fight against Dustin Neace on Saturday and why he may return to WEC sooner rather than later. The full video interview is below.

Former WEC title contender Jeff Curran will face Dustin Neace instead of Sam Thao on the undercard of Strikeforce: Fedor vs. Rogers on Nov. 7 in Hoffman Estates, Ill.

Neace (17-13-1) is entering the featherweight bout after Strikeforce's proposed matchup between Curran and Thao was not approved by the Illinois athletic commission.

The fight will be the 23-year-old Neace's most high-profile in his three-and-a-half years of fighting.

Former WEC contender Jeff Curran has signed with Strikeforce to compete on the undercard of the Fedor Emelianenko vs. Brett Rogers event on Nov. 7 in Hoffman Estates, Ill.

Curran (29-12-1) was released after four consecutive losses with the WEC. But it's also important to note that the losses came against Urijah Faber, Mike Brown, Joseph Benavidez and Takeya Mizugaki -- arguably four of the toughest assignments for a lighterweight fighter, all in a 20-month period.

Former UFC heavyweight champion Frank Mir will be the color commentator for WEC 42 Sunday night on Versus, and all this week he's providing his insight into the WEC fights. Today I ask Mir about Takeya Mizugaki vs. Jeff Curran.

Michael David Smith: The last time we saw Takeya Mizugaki was in his loss to Miguel Torres at WEC 40, in one of the fights of the year. How do you think he matches up with Jeff Curran?
Frank Mir: I think that is a very exciting fight. Both guys have excellent hands. Jeff might try to be a little bit of a grappler in this fight, but I don't think it's going to go to the ground much. I think we're going to see a very explosive fight, with both guys going at it. I don't see this fight going to the ground or going the distance.

Above, 1976 Olympic boxing gold medalist Howard Davis speaks with great confidence about World Extreme Cagefighting champion Mike Brown's chances of beating Urijah Faber Sunday at WEC 41. Davis and Brown have worked hard at developing Brown's boxing skills, and after recently watching Brown's last three fights, I'm amazed at how much more skillful he is as a boxer than he was even a year ago.

Japanese bantamweight Takeya Mizugaki, who put together a thrilling fight in a losing effort against World Extreme Cagefighting champion Miguel Torres this month at WEC 40, is expected to return to the cage in August against Jeff Curran at WEC 42.

A WEC source told FanHouse that Mizugaki vs. Curran has not been signed, but the promotion wants to put the fight on and both fighters have expressed interest. WEC 42 is likely to be headlined by Torres defending the bantamweight title against Brian Bowles, and Mizugaki vs. Curran is expected to be televised on the undercard of that show.

We're a few hours away from the 40th event in the history of World Extreme Cagefighting, and as I was looking at the fight card today, I got to thinking: Is this the best collection of bantamweights ever assembled at one MMA event?

Miguel Torres towers over the rest of MMA's 135-pound division -- and when I say that, I don't just mean he's the World Extreme Cagefighting bantamweight champion and by far the best 135-pound fighter in the world.

I also mean that Torres is much taller and has strikingly longer arms and legs than anyone else who fights at 135 pounds. That was very obvious on Friday, when the WEC brought together four of the best 135-pounders in the world for a press conference promoting Sunday night's WEC 40 event.

The height and reach difference between Torres and the other three -- his opponent, Takeya Mizugaki, plus Jeff Curran and Joseph Benavidez, who will square off in the co-main event -- was more apparent than their listed heights. Torres is listed at 5-foot-9, Mizugaki is listed at 5-7, Curran is listed at 5-6 and Benavidez is listed at 5-4.