Skip to main content

Bellator 286's Juan Archuleta staying ready for possible return as grand prix alternate

LOS ANGELES – Juan Archuleta is happy to stick to bantamweight just in case there’s another opportunity at the grand prix.

Archuleta (25-4 MMA, 7-3 BMMA) meets Enrique Barzola (18-6-2 MMA, 2-1 BMMA) on Saturday’s Bellator 286 main card at Long Beach Arena in Long Beach, Calif. The main card airs on Showtime following prelims on MMA Junkie.

Both men recently were eliminated in the quarterfinals of the bantamweight grand prix, but Archuleta sees big implications in this fight.

“The tournament’s still going on, and (there’s a) possibility of getting pulled back in – someone gets hurt – so just making sure you’re always on the call and ready to go,” Archuleta told MMA Junkie at Thursday’s Bellator 286 media day. “Enrique and I were both winning our last fights, so it makes sense to have us fight and just use us as an alternate just in case someone doesn’t make weight or anything else happens.”

The cut down to 135 pounds isn’t easy for Archuleta, who’s also competed at featherweight and lightweight throughout his career. But the 35-year-old doesn’t expect to face any issues making weight as long as he has the adequate amount of time to hit the mark.

“I’m super professional – I’ve never missed weight,” Archuleta said. “I’ve just got to know in advance if this is where they need me, and this is where they need me right now. So (I’m) just staying down (in weight), and luckily I get to go out and train with T.J. (Dillashaw) the next couple of weeks to get him ready for his fight, and Cub (Swanson) and things like that. So I’ll still be in the gym no matter what.”

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for Bellator 286.



from MMA Junkie https://ift.tt/T8jOqiy
via IFTTT
Labels:

Popular posts from this blog

Burmese fighter: Joshua Van details pioneering journey to plant Myanmar's flag on UFC turf

Joshua Van remembers asking his mother why they had to live in Houston. Why couldn’t they just go back home where things were familiar? He was 12 years old at the time, and Van wanted to go back to where he lived the first decade of his life, in Myanmar. Life wasn’t easy for an undersized pre-teen who spoke little English and was picked on during school for both of those attributes. Looking back, the math adds up that he’d become the first Burmese fighter to compete in the UFC. “I was a small kid,” Van recently told MMA Junkie. “From where I come from, you get picked on. It’s kind of like I fight everyday, and I got to the point where I enjoyed fighting. I watched clips on street fights and how to win street fights. I tried it in my next fight and things like that. That’s what got me into my career.” Van grew up one of five siblings in Myanmar, a country ridden with military and political conflict . When things increasingly worsened, Van’s parents decided to move to Malaysia. Van...
Read more

Video: Oli Thompson lands devastating first-round knockout punch on Aleksei Oleinik in Russia

Aleksei Oleinik returned to action for the first time since his UFC exit, but things did not go in his favor. In the main event of REN TV Fight Club at Dynamo Volleyball Arena in Moscow, Russia, Oleinik (60-17-1 MMA) faced fellow UFC veteran Oli Thompson in a heavyweight bout. The result was a violent finish that left Oleinik staring up at the lights. Thompson (21-16 MMA) unleashed a crushing right hand that sent Oleinik crashing to the canvas with 35 seconds remaining in the opening round. Check out video of the finish below (via Twitter ): Oli Thompson destroys Alexey Oleynik with a massive right hand in the first round pic.twitter.com/AdWy25dQxR — caposa (@Grabaka_Hitman) May 26, 2023 Thompson, 43, returned to the win column for the first time since 2020, snapping a four-fight losing skid. His last victory was also a first-round stoppage; a 23-second knockout of Szymon Bajor at Fight Exclusive Night 28 on June 13, 2020. Oleinik, 45, competed in his final UFC bout in Octo...
Read more

Logan Paul, KSI to fight (separately) as part of Misfits Boxing 'The Prime Card'

Logan Paul and KSI will top an upcoming Misfits Boxing card entitled “The Prime Card,” they announced Friday on social media . The event takes place Oct. 14 at AO Arena in Manchester, England and streams on DAZN pay-per-view. Opponents for the two influencers-turned-boxers have not yet been announced. It is unclear if the bouts will be professional or exhibition. Paul, 28, has not competed in a professional boxing match since he fought and lost to  KSI in November 2019. The bout was a rematch of an August 2018 amateur fight which ended in a draw. In June 2021, Paul competed in an exhibition bout against Floyd Mayweather and went all eight rounds in a non-scored bout. While he’s been relatively inactive in boxing, Paul has thrilled fans with his athleticism in intermittent appearances in pro wrestling bouts for WWE. KSI, 30, has competed four times since the pro bout against Paul. All four of those matches were exhibitions. KSI won three of them inside the distance, while a f...
Read more