Daniel Straus made his Bellator debut in 2009 and has had nothing but tough fights since. He has held the Featherweight belt and battled Pat Curran on three occasions.
In his last outing he lost the belt to Curran after a difficult weight-cut that led him to actually cut off his trademark dreads.
Straus is slated to face Justin Wilcox in the main event at Bellator 127 on October 3rd.
I caught up with Daniel and got the inside view on the week leading up to the fight, his thoughts on Wilcox, and his plans to get the strap back around his waist.
Aaron Robbins: Daniel, Thanks for sitting down with me. How you feeling?
Daniel Straus: “I’m doing great man, how you feeling?”
AR: I doing well, thank you. Can you give the fans an idea of what goes down with you the week before a fight?
DS: “For me, I just get charged up man. I get ready mentally, for me I try to get away from all the stress. Obviously I start with packing and getting ready to leave. I start my water loading. I make sure I have everything in order as far as my fight gear so I don’t have to think about that. I just try to prepare myself to do my thing.
“Me personally I like to start my cut two or three days before weigh-ins so I can wake up the day of on weight. Some guys like to wait until the day of the weigh-ins to cut their last five pounds, me personally I would rather just be on weight and struggle that day with being dehydrated rather than trying to lose weight. Weight cutting sucks no matter what, but I’m not having the problems that I had last time so I’m doing pretty good.”
AR: Have you made it though this camp healthy?
DS: “For the most part, yeah. I have some nicks and bruises and bumps, but no cuts, no broken bones. Like I said I have had some bumps and some swelling, but I’ve just been using ice baths; icing things and moving on. I have had a sore neck or back here and there, but nothing I haven’t dealt with in my previous fights. Nothing that’s going to stop me from performing.”
AR: That’s great to hear. So what do you know about your opponent, Justin Wilcox, and what did you to prepare for him?
DS: “I just know what I’ve seen, he’s a tough guy. He’s a guy that’s going to bull you. He’s going to try to push you to the cage and take you down. He’s great at taking the back, so we worked on that; a lot on getting up. He’s known for just being a really strong guy, so we have been working on me moving my feet a lot more. Working on getting around punches, and quickly getting in and out.”
AR: Did your camp use a training partner to try and mimic his style?
DS: “When you have a guy who is so one-sided on one thing you try to find a training partner to spar with that is somewhat similar to him. For the most part, as far as his bully style, I have been using Nik Lentz. Ya know, he has awesome wrestling, and is great at pushing you up against the cage. So Nik was a good partner for this camp.”
AR: You have had three high-profile battles with Pat Curran over at Bellator. You won the title from, and subsequently surrendered it to him. Pat just lost the Featherweight championship to Patricio “Pitbull” Freire. Did it disappoint you that you wouldn’t be fighting Curran again? That is, of course, assuming you get passed Wilcox and get a shot at the belt.
DS: “No man, it doesn’t matter who I fight. You know, I’m not head-hunting Pat Curran. Just like when I lost to him before, I wasn’t one to chase after him. We will see each other again, and when we see each other I’ll get that win. My goal is focused on that belt, so whoever has that belt is who I want to fight.”
AR: Do you think Curran will get a rematch for the belt?
DS: “I hope not, but who knows. Hopefully I can walk through this guy (Wilcox) and get to that belt, but if not I’ll just have to fight again before I get there. If he gets a rematch than so-be-it, if not then move on to the next guy, and hopefully I’m that guy.”
“The biggest issue I’ve had is not being able to fight enough. It’s nobody’s fault, it’s just how the game has been. You know, injuries and title shots and what not has kept me out. So for me, I’m just not sitting on the corner anymore. If I can’t get at the title, then let me fight the next guy and prove myself. That’s how I got here, and that’s what I want to do.”
AR: Alright, I know you don’t call people out, but if it’s not a title shot is there anybody you would like to have a match with?
DS: “Every last 45er in the division. I’m ready to get at em. We all have the same interest and that’s getting to the belt. I haven’t been focused on what these guys are looking like or what not, I’m just focused on that belt. So, like I said, if I can’t get the belt I want to fight the guy who’s next in line for the title. I just want to keep knocking guys off until they can’t deny me.”
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Main Photo credit Bellator MMA
