Video: RFA 9 headliner Jeff Curran looking for validation against Pedro Munhoz

Jeff Curran is looking to get reinvigorated in his fight career, and having a title on the line might just be the perfect time for him to do so.

Curran (34-15) fights Pedro Munhoz (8-0) for the Resurrection Fighting Alliance bantamweight title next week at RFA 9. And though he reserves the right to take another shot at flyweight down the road, a little more motivation might come from not having to cut that extra 10 pounds this time.

“RFA 9: Curran vs. Munhoz” takes place Aug. 16 at StubHub Center in Los Angeles. A six-fight main card airs live on AXS TV.

“Titles are great, and especially this late in my career,” Curran told MMAjunkie.com Radio (www.mmajunkie.com/radio). “In November, it’ll be 17 years for me of fighting. I need that moment, that re-inspiration to feel good about myself and that I’m on the right track and can still hang on the high levels. I feel like I can. I know I can when I gauge myself with the up-and-comers in my school.”

With five times as much experience as his unbeaten opponent, Curran might have an edge on paper. But “The Young Punisher” has finished six of his eight opponents, including the past four by submission.

Getting Curran to tap might be hard to come by. He’s a renowned jiu-jitsu player who has tapped from a hold just once since 1998, and that was against Urijah Faber in a WEC featherweight title fight.

But Curran knows his opponent, from Brazil, brings something to the table.

“I’m glad I’m fighting someone like Pedro Munhoz who’s undefeated, a technical fighter, and as a Brazilian fighter in general, they fight for a lot more than money,” Curran said. “That’s important to me, fighting guys like that who are respectful and martial artists and just want to come out there and fight for honor and pride and their team and all those good things I fight for.”

After being released from the UFC on a two-fight skid with losses to Scott Jorgensen and Johnny Eduardo, Curran took about a year and then made the cut to flyweight to attempt a UFC comeback at 125 pounds.

But when the opportunity to step in for an injured Keoni Koch (Erik Koch‘s brother) came up for RFA 9, he was all over it.

“When I saw Koch got injured, I called (my manager) Monte Cox right away and said, ‘We’ve got to do this,’” Curran recalled. “He said, ‘You what to go to ’35? I thought we were focusing on ’25.’ For me to fight at ’25, I need a couple months’ notice. At ’35, I’m already in shape. It was a good alignment of the stars.”

His first cut, for a win over Josh Killion at Exteme Challenge 227 in May, was brutal on him. But it taught him some good lessons if he decides to go back down to flyweight again in the future.

“It was a little taxing on my body,” he said. “I had a few weeks of water retention – my body was just hanging on and my legs swelled up. It was bad. My body went through some serious shock from it.”

But against Munhoz, he’ll only have to get to 135, which he’s done plenty of times – even though he’s fought as high as lightweight.

And when he does, whether there’s a title on the line or not, there will be something a little bigger for Curran at stake, and that’s the opportunity to find out if, at 35, he can still hang as “Big Frog” with the big dogs.

“It’s been hard to really dial in because I haven’t been as active,” he said. “I’ve fought one time in 14 months, and you start to get distant from it. I need that one fight that’s really going to make me feel like this is where I still belong and this is where I need to be.”

For the latest on RFA 9, stay tuned to the MMA Rumors section of the site.

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