While Curran has proven game on the feet before, considering Mizugaki held his own with Torres, going for a striker’s showdown may be no better an idea than trying to work his way out from underneath Mizugaki’s paralyzing wrestling.
The X Factor: After his bantamweight debut was spoiled by Joseph Benavidez, the whispers started regarding how long Curran has left as a top-flight mixed martial artist. With his back against the wall, Curran will come out looking to go for broke in search of the respect he has lost. Everyone knows Mizugaki loves a good scrap, but if Curran starts throwing a million submissions a second at him, he might lose his taste for this fight.
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The Bottom Line: Expect Curran to unload a full clip of submissions on Mizugaki, but do not expect any of them to find their mark, as Mizugaki answers back with disciplined ground-and-pound en route to a shutout decision win.