Not much will stand in the way of Saad Awad if he wants to stay busy.

The veteran Bellator lightweight had a hairline fracture of his hand when matchmakers called in early March for a fight against Brandon Girtz, but that didn’t stop him.

“I signed the fight while I still had my cast on,” Awad told MMAjunkie.

There’s good reason Awad (22-9 MMA, 10-5 BMMA) doesn’t hesitate. He’s got the kind of record that’s not an easy sell for those looking to climb the ladder, and a non-starter for those just starting out in the sport.

When he gets a matchup, he’s got to grab on with both hands – cast-bound or not.

“I was like, ‘Dude, just give me somebody,'” Awad said. “Because I know how this goes. The cards are full and nobody steps up, and you don’t get a fight. That’s what usually happens with me.”

Awad figures as long as he stays busy and wins, he should eventually get to every fighter’s goal of a title shot. Until then, he’s not quite sure where he fits in the Bellator title picture.

“If I knew that, I wouldn’t be asking for a title fight, knowing it wasn’t even on the horizon,” Awad said. “Because I’ve been asking for a title fight for, like, five years now.”

Awad has broken his hand four times, and a pair of screws permanently reside under his skin to hold together the bones. But it hurts more when he can’t provide for his family.

After Girtz stepped up to face lightweight star Michael Chandler at Bellator 197, that somebody Awad asked for wound up being Ryan Couture (11-5 MMA, 3-2 BMMA) – at a catchweight.

Couture might not be the type of opponent that will send Awad hurtling toward a title shot, but he ventures it’s one that will extend his current winning streak and set him up for bigger things.

“As long as I’m winning, you can’t deny it,” said Awad, who meets Couture on the Paramount-televised main card of Bellator 201 in Temecula, Calif. “You look at Tony Ferguson in the UFC. He had a nine-fight winning streak before he got that title fight. Khabib (Nurmagomedov) had the same. I’m barely on a three-fight winning streak. If this is one of the guys I have to fight just to build that winning streak, (expletive) it, I’m going to take it.”

Awad remembers when the two fought under the now-defunct Strikeforce banner in 2008. Couture, the son of UFC Hall of Famer Randy Couture, was trying to make a name for himself, and he was getting compensated a lot more handsomely than other prospects on the circuit.

“He was getting paid $10,000 that fight, and this was when people were making $500, $600 to fight,” Awad said. “I think I made $1,100 fighting on the Strikeforce undercard.”

Couture availed himself well in Strikeforce, racking up a 6-1 record. But after the promotion was acquired by the UFC, he was caught in the middle of a fight between his father and the industry-leader, and his career stumbled in the octagon. A pair of losses led to his release, and he went back to the regional circuit before signing with Bellator.

“When you’re getting paid that much, you have to fight good guys,” Awad said. “I think that’s what happened to him. His dad got him a good contract, and they’re not going to pay you good money to fight bums, unless you’re a big draw.”

Awad respects the younger Couture but thinks he’s another in a series of bad matchups that have turned into career roadblocks. There’s no area where Awad feels deficient when he lines up their respective skills.

“I think it’s a horrible fight for him, because his game plan has got to be to grab me and put me against the fence, wear me out and win a decision,” Awad said. “I don’t see any other way of him beating me. God forbid he catches me – knock on wood. But it’s going to take a pretty hard punch to put me out.

“All I’ve gotta say is, he knows what he signed up for.”

For more on Bellator 201, check out the MMA Rumors section of the site.