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Daniel Straus Credit: Bellator MMA.

For the first time in his career, Daniel Straus has to come back from a two-fight losing streak with the former Bellator featherweight champion is looking to make an in cage return early-next year.

“Right now, I’m hoping to return in February and climb my way back to the title,” Straus told MMA Plus after cornering his friend Dominique Steele in the main event of Cage Warriors 89 in Antwerp, Belgium.

“I’ve got a couple fights to win to get back to the title and that’s been the only thing on my mind: just trying to focus on getting better and active.”

Straus lost the fourth meeting with current champ Patricio Freire on Bellator 178 in April and followed that up with a loss to Emmanuel Sanchez on Bellator 184 last October, both by submission.

Straus doesn’t want to step back and get right back in the mix: “I’ve been offered (lower ranked-opponents). ‘Why don’t you get your head right, why don’t you take a lower ranked-opponent?’ No, I won’t do that, because that’s not how I got here.

“I’ve got here by believing in myself and still believe in myself. This is the first time I’ve lost two fights in a row and I’m happy that I’ve lost two in a row. I obviously wasn’t happy when I lost, but it puts me in a place where I can mentally build myself back up.

“That’s what I did when I first started this sport and that’s what I’m gonna continue to do until I finish this sport. I don’t need easy opponents, I want the hardest that I can get. If I could fight the champ next I will. That’s just my mentality.”