New dad, Curtis Millender, onto new journeys starting with Fernando Gonzalez fight at Bellator 137

Curtis Millender was on a roll coming into Bellator 137: "British Invasion" on Feb. 27, 2015. With a perfect professional record at the time (7-0), including two knockouts and five decisions, his record indicated power in his hands and cardio in his tanks.

He could gas you or smash you.

Millender was hoping to showcase those skills against Bellator phenom Michael Page, but a late injury in training forced "Venom" off the card, leaving Millender the option to take a fight with Brennan Ward instead.

He courteously accepted.

The change of opponent did not work out in Millender's favor, however, as Ward submitted him in the first round. But, one could hardly blame Millender given he had to gameplan for a new foe on a week's notice.

This weekend (Fri., May 15, 2015) at Bellator 137, which takes at Pechanga Resort & Casino in Temecula, Calif., the plan is for "Curtious" to face Fernando Gonzalez on the Spike TV-televised main card. That's no easy test, given Gonzalez has won all three of his Bellator fights so far against top-flight competition that includes Karl Amoussou, Karo Parisyan and Marius Zaromskis.

MMAmania.com recently spoke with Millender about the upcoming fight with Gonzalez, as well as the birth of his son, Carter, right before our interview.

"I'm actually at the hospital with him right now. It doesn't effect (my preparation) too much. I took one day off of training and that was yesterday when he was born. I actually just left the gym, so I'm right back in it."

That's not the only thing affecting Millender -- the Reign Training Center (Mark Munoz, Matt Lopez, Ryan Gonzales) shut down the same day as our interview (read more about that here).

Thankfully for Millender, there was already a back up plan in place.

"Onto new journeys. We're still gonna be training together just not at the Reign Training Center. (It) was the last big day of sparring there, and on to new things. I didn't ask too many questions, (I) just wanted to make sure I would still be able to get my time in with Mark Munoz, and if he was still gonna be training and where he was gonna be training. We're just gonna be heading down to Newport."

All of these things could derail a fighter under different circumstances, but Millender is highly motivated to prove that his performance against Gonzalez will be the real "Curtious" Curtis.

"I'm ready. I know it's going to be a tough fight, but it's a fight that can get me right back onto my winning ways. The opportunity they're giving me, I'm not going to waste it. It's definitely a blessing that they're giving me a second opportunity on the main card."

With a nickname like "Curtious" you might think he'd be a genteel fellow, but Millender says that's only before and after a fight takes place.

"It's not because I'm nice. It's because I have no problem giving away these ass whoopings and I give 'em away for free -- I'm very courteous about it. After I beat you I'm not gonna dog you out, I'm gonna let you know it was a good fight, thanks for another win."

In fact, Millender has been known to practice Nick Diaz-style psychological warfare via a backhand in the cage.

"I don't do it to be an asshole or anything like that -- it's just I have a swagger about myself. Sometimes I put my hands down, if somebody misses by a mile I'm gonna let 'em know that they missed. I'm gonna look behind like 'Where in the hell were you kicking?' I slap people too. I slapped a couple of guys in a fight. I just try to be a ring general. I want to control every aspect of the fight."

If no one on the corner has swagger like Millender, he'll be successful this Friday night against Gonzalez.

Check out our complete audio from the interview below, and congratulations once against on the birth of his son Carter.

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