Bellator 205 is now in need of a new headliner. Due to an undisclosed injury, Pat Curran has pulled out of his main event slot against A.J. McKee. There is no word yet on who will replace Curran.

This is not the first time Curran has been forced to pull out of a high-profile contest. In 2014, Pat Curran’s Bellator 121 title defense against Patricio “Pitbull” Freire. Curran would lose the belt to Freire later the same year. Due to constant injury woes, Curran has only fought twice since 2016. Last year, Curran reflected on why that might be:

“I was very consistent earlier in my 20’s, but now that I’m getting a little bit older, the injuries that I had when I was younger that didn’t really bother me got to the point where they needed attention and I needed time off to take care of them,” Curran told MMAWeekly.com last year.

“It’s one of those things that happens with everybody in sports; you give everything you have into it and eventually your body catches up and it slows you down. Mentally, I didn’t want to accept it, but it’s one of those things where you have to listen to your body and go from there.”


At 30 years old, Curran should still have a lot of time to get his injuries in check. But understandably, 30 professional fights to match his years have taken its toll on the former Bellator featherweight world champion.

Here is the current card for Bellator 205:

A.J. McKee vs. TBA

Rafael Lovato Jr. vs. John Salter

Patricky Freire vs. Goiti Yamauchi

Veta Arteaga vs. Denise Kielholtz

Kyle Frost vs. David Rangel

Joe Aguirre vs. Stephen Stirewalt

Justin Hugo vs. Vince Morales