Bellator Interview: Toby Imada Is Ready for His Shot

It's a motivational feeling for a fighter when he knows very few people know his name.

It's an electrifying feeling for a fighter when he's able to provide a convincing reason for people to remember his name.

For Bellator Fighting Championship's Season One lightweight runner-up and current Season Two lightweight contender Toby Imada, his final against Pat Curran this Thursday is an opportunity for him to make fans remember his name.

After all, he could be here to stay for a long, long time.

Entering the Bellator cage with 20 wins and 12 losses at the very first event on April 3rd, 2009, Toby Imada had no trouble making his way towards the finals in season one.

After a brief slugfest, a trip to the ground, and a scramble for ground control—all of which took place in about a three minute span—Imada was able to lock in a rear naked choke on Alonzo Martinez, who tapped out three minutes and 26 seconds into Round One.

His road to the Bellator Lightweight belt also saw him face Jorge "GameBred" Masvidal in a fight where he caught Masvidal in an inverted triangle choke after being caught in some tough situations during the first two rounds.

The only one of his past six fights that he lost was the Round Two loss by tap out that Imada suffered against Eddie Alvarez after the latter executed a rear naked choke. Alvarez connected on a hard right hand to the face that knocked Imada down, though Toby did last through the barrage of strikes from Alvarez.

A win in King Of The Cage, as well as tournament wins over James Krause and Carey Vanier, hang in the win column in favor of Toby as he prepares for this season's lightweight final.

Also helping out Toby in preparation for this epic encounter with title implications is the fact that the 32-year old submission specialist, now with 25 wins, 13 losses, and zero draws, DQs or no-contests, has been training very hard with San Diego's Lion's Gym as Throwdown Elite camp.

Via a phone conversation, I was able to pick up Imada's thoughts about his start in Bellator, his fight with Pat Curran, a possible rematch with Bellator's current lightweight king, and the one fight that he'd want to have if he could have it.

So what was it about Bellator that caught his attention in the first place?

"Well, to be frank," he said, "I've been fighting for a while, and [Bellator] was just an opportunity for me to get some bigger shots."

The unique tournament structure reintroduced to the MMA world by Bellator Fighting Championships was what gave Imada enough incentive to sign with the organization. The format of Bellator, compared to the UFC/WEC format, allowed the 32-year old Filipino to fight his way to the top without any dispute as to how he earned his place in the lightweight final.

After the win over Alonzo Martinez, Imada scored a victory in what was 2009's Submission of the Year during his lightweight semifinal with Jorge Masvidal.

Though Toby's face had seen better days in the beginning of the third round, he refused to give up.

Out of nowhere, just as it seemed like "GameBred" was set to flip Imada over his back and slam him to the ground, Imada quickly locked his legs in an unorthodox position, resulting in an inverted triangle that gave Toby a spot in the finals opposite Eddie Alvarez.

Imada's submission win over Masvidal was the second of two submission wins in Bellator's first season to have resulted in a win by technical submission.

"At first, I didn't think too much of it," mentioned Imada on his reaction to the news that his inverted triangle on Masvidal was 2009's Submission of the Year, "but to have people tell me that, it was pretty cool."

With that win, Toby became one half of Bellator's first ever lightweight final.

"It felt great," Imada said about being in Bellator's first lightweight final, "The whole point of fighting through the quarterfinals and the semifinals was to show that I was one of the best fighters in Bellator's lightweight division."

Though he showed plenty of heart throughout the quarterfinals and semifinals, he lost to Alvarez by rear naked choke in Round Two, resulting in Alvarez becoming Bellator's first lightweight champion.

In Season Two of Bellator Imada defeated James Krause and Carey Vanier by using armbars, a move which Imada subconsciously favors.

Now, the only thing between him and a rematch with Alvarez is Pat Curran, a man who holds a knockout win over Mike Ricci and a unanimous decision win over Roger Huerta.

The fight Curran had with Huerta was one that Imada was watching with a bit of interest.

"[Pat] didn't try any super risky moves," Imada recalled about what he saw in Curran's fight with "El Matador," "and showed that he wanted it more than Huerta."

While Imada gave Curran his due for his efforts against Huerta, the pre-final touching of the gloves might definitely be the last bit of respect that Toby Imada will show to Pat Curran.

After they touch gloves, their only focus will be on defeating each other and scoring a shot at Eddie Alvarez at a yet-to-be-named time during Bellator's third season, which is set to feature the bantamweight, heavyweight, and women's divisions in tournament action alongside the defenses of all four Bellator titles.

With a rematch against one of the sport's top lightweights on the line, Toby has made no bones about it: he's not leaving this one up to the judges.

"In every fight, I don't like to leave it in the hands of the judges," said Imada. "I'm always looking for the finish."

Should he defeat Curran, Imada says his approach to his rematch will definitely be a cautious one, as Alvarez can explode at any minute with strikes or a quick submission attempt.

Toby also shared an interesting take on what would happen if Eddie faced Strikeforce lightweight king Gilbert Melendez, stating that while he feels Alvarez is ahead of Melendez on paper, he'd love to be the guy that defeats either man in the cage.

As far as beating top-flight lightweight competition goes, Eddie Alvarez isn't the only guy Imada would love to face off against.

"BJ Penn, that's just a top guy," said Imada about the man who is still perceived as the sport's best fighter at 155 pounds.

By his own admission he's "not that well-known" right now as far as lightweights are concerned, but Toby looks at BJ as a fighter who he'd like to one day be across the cage from in order to see where he stands in the lightweight division.

Who knows? Maybe Imada could impress a lot of people in a fight with BJ if that happened.

One thing's for certain though: Imada knows that his time in the sport is far from up. There's still more for him to accomplish before he chooses to depart the MMA scene for good.

What does the future hold for Toby Imada? To him it boils down to two options:

"I can stop right now... or I can keep on going and hopefully not be forgotten."

After this Thursday, I think it'll be tough to find a good reason to forget the name of Toby Imada.