Tag: Juan Archuleta

Former Bellator champion Juan Archuleta to fight Naoki Inoue at Rizin 42

Former Bellator champ Juan Archuleta is returning to Japan for his next fight.

[autotag]Juan Archuleta[/autotag]’s fighting career continues in Japan.

The former Bellator champion has booked another fight in the “Land of the Rising Sun” as he’s set to return against Naoki Inoue on May 6 at Rizin 42. The event will go down at Ariake Arena in Tokyo. The bout between Archuleta and Inoue is to be contested at 135 pounds.

The matchup was announced by Bellator on Sunday evening.

This booking for Archuleta (27-4) comes on the heels of his debut in Japan this past December, as he fought in Rizin’s New Year’s Eve event – Rizin FF 40.  It was a card that pit Bellator fighters vs. Rizin fighters.

In that event, Archuleta defeated Soo Chul Kim by split decision. The 35-year-old is now on a two-fight winning streak since losing to Raufeon Stots by knockout in April.

Inoue (18-3), who had a two-fight stint in the UFC in 2017-2018, is 7-1 in his past eight fights. His lone loss during that stretch came in the semifinals of the 2021 Rizin FF bantamweight grand prix. He lost to Hiromasa Ougikubo by unanimos decision.

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USA TODAY Sports/MMA Junkie rankings, Jan. 3: Kyoji Horiguchi on the rise at flyweight

Kyoji Horiguchi returned to flyweight and placed himself back in the rankings with a win at Bellator vs. Rizin FF on New Year’s Eve.

With most of the MMA world idle for the holidays, Bellator and Rizin hosted a cross-promotion event on New Year’s Eve in Japan.

Bellator’s brightest stars including [autotag]A.J. McKee[/autotag], [autotag]Patricio Freire[/autotag], [autotag]Kyoji Horiguchi[/autotag], [autotag]Juan Archuleta[/autotag], and [autotag]Gadzhi Rabadanov[/autotag] represented the promotion against Rizin FF’s lineup. It was a clean sweep for Bellator, as they won all five bouts at the year-end event.

Horiguchi returned to flyweight, where he picked up a unanimous decision win over Hiromasa Ougikubo. The former UFC title challenger re-enters the rankings at 125 pounds this week, marking the biggest move ahead of 2023 events.

Check out all the latest pound-for-pound and divisional USA TODAY Sports/MMA Junkie rankings above.

Juan Archuleta glad to leave Japan with win over hard-headed fellow animal Soo Chul Kim

Juan Archuleta helped make it 5-0 for Bellator over Rizin on New Year’s Eve with his split decision win over Soo Chul Kim in Japan.

[autotag]Juan Archuleta[/autotag] beat Soo Chul Kim with a split decision Saturday at Rizin FF 40: Rizin vs. Bellator in Japan.

Take a look inside the fight with Archuleta, a former Bellator title challenger who now has back-to-back wins after the first skid of his career.

Video: The epic entrances from Bellator’s New Year’s Eve sweep over Rizin

Team Bellator had a pretty epic way to ring in the new year Saturday in Japan, and its members’ entrances were equally epic.

Team Bellator had a pretty epic way to ring in the new year Saturday, and its members’ entrances were equally epic.

Bellator fighters went 5-0 in their matchups against Rizin fighters at a crossover event at Saitama Super Arena near Tokyo. Former featherweight champion [autotag]A.J. McKee[/autotag] and current champ [autotag]Patricio Freire[/autotag] got wins at the top of the bill. But so, too, did [autotag]Kyoji Horiguchi[/autotag], [autotag]Juan Archuleta[/autotag] and [autotag]Gadzhi Rabadanov[/autotag].

Check out some of the epic only-in-Japan entrances from the fighters on the New Year’s Eve card below.

Rizin FF vs. Bellator results: Juan Archuleta wins split decision after spectacular entrance

Juan Archuleta made an incredible entrance to the ring at Rizin FF vs. Bellator and followed it up with a competitive win.

Former Bellator champ [autotag]Juan Archuleta[/autotag] continued the momentum for his promotion at Saturday’s Rizin FF 40: Rizin vs. Bellator event.

Archuleta (27-4) made it 2-0 for Team Bellator in the head-to-head matchups with Rizin in the special cross-promotion event, taking a split decision over [autotag]Soo Chul Kim[/autotag] (18-7-1) in the bantamweight matchup courtesy of his more effective striking and ground control.

The event took place at Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, near Tokyo. The main card airs on Showtime via tape delay at 8 p.m. ET.

After making a spectacular entrance to the ring, Archuleta started strong when he came out of gate firing hard punches. Kim tried to counter by jumping on a standing guillotine choke, but it ultimately ended up with the fight spilling to the ground, where he spent the majority of the round on his back. It got back to the feet late and Archuleta landing a punishing leg kick.

Archuleta picked up where he left off in the second frame, landing crisp shots on the feet, including a nasty series of standing elbows from inside the clinch. He got back to top position where he dominated, as well, and Kim’s only moment of the round came during a striking exchange where he landed a leg kick that caught Archuleta’s attention.

In the final round, Archuleta was confident as he threw his strikes. Kim got top position during a scramble, but referee Jason Herzog quickly stood them up. That allowed Archuleta to get back in his striking rhythm. The final minute saw Kim try to pounce on a front choke, but Archuleta stayed composed and survived to escape before the final bell.

“I’m so emotional. I’m not going to lie,” Archuleta said in his post-fight interview. “All week it’s been draining on my soul, all you fans lifting me up to have the honor and the power and the strength to come here tonight.”

After a two-fight losing skid, Archuleta has now won back-to-back bouts after beating Enrique Barzola by decision at Bellator 286 in October.

Official Rizin vs. Bellator results include:

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for Rizin FF 40: Rizin vs. Bellator.

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Juan Archuleta hopes Kim Soo Chul has the endurance for ‘a long f*cking 15 minutes’

Juan Archuleta plans on breaking Kim Soo Chul at Saturday’s Bellator vs. Rizin event.

[autotag]Juan Archuleta[/autotag] plans on breaking [autotag]Kim Soo Chul[/autotag].

Archuleta (26-4) takes on Chul (18-6-1) on Saturday’s Rizin 40 event at Saitama Super Arena just outside Tokyo. The main card will air in the U.S. on Showtime via tape-delay and the fights will take place in Rizin’s ring under the promotion’s ruleset.

Having gone 25 minutes on six different occasions, Archuleta is confident that he’ll have both experience and endurance on his side.

“I hope he’s fast enough to keep up with me,” Archuleta said during the Rizin 40 pre-fight press conference. “I hope he has the endurance to keep up with me because it’s gonna be a long f*cking 15 minutes for him.”

He continued, “I know where my conditioning is, I know how hard I can push my body, I know where I could take myself mentally, physically and spiritually to get a victory. I don’t think he does. I don’t think he understands why I train so hard, why I wake up day in and day out to be so diligent in my work that it shows in my performances. I’m gonna drag him with me and I’m gonna pull him down as much as I can all the way down to hell and if I have to go with him to get this victory, I will.”

Archuleta vows to put on a memorable battle against the former Road FC and ONE Championship bantamweight title holder in front of the Japanese fans who have experienced plenty of historic wars.

“I’m very excited because we have similar styles,” Archuleta said. “We’re gonna both come to the center of the ring and we’re gonna give the audience a very exciting performance. We’re both offensive, we’re both gonna look for the kill, and we’re gonna see who’s soul breaks first.”

He continued, “The image I have for the match that I’ve painted over and over in my head is a war. A literal war. This guy comes forward, he has a very aggressive offense and so do I, and that makes a very entertaining fight because we have two fighters, two warriors that want to come and do battle on a battlefield that’s known to have great battles. You’re in for an exciting treat. We’re gonna come and continue to press forward, continue to push offense until one man’s will breaks the other.”

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for Rizin FF 40: Rizin vs. Bellator.

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Rizin FF 40: Rizin vs. Bellator weigh-in results: Promotion vs. promotion fights official

Check out the results from the official Rizin FF 40 weigh-ins, which features fight Rizin vs. Bellator cross-promotional fights.

The stage is set for the final major MMA event of 2022 after official weigh-ins for Rizin FF 40: Rizin vs. Bellator went down Thursday night in Japan.

With five promotion vs. promotion fights set for the main card, which airs on Showtime via tape-delay on Saturday from Saitama Super Arena just outside Tokyo, all the notable athletes successfully made weight.

In the main event, Rizin FF lightweight champion [autotag]Roberto de Souza[/autotag] (14-1) will welcome former Bellator featherweight titleholder [autotag]A.J. McKee[/autotag] (19-1) to his turf in a compelling matchup. The co-headliner wills see current Bellator featherweight champ [autotag]Patricio Freire[/autotag] (34-5) take on Rizin FF’s [autotag]Kleber Koike Erbst[/autotag] (31-5-1).

Check out the complete main card weigh-in results below:

  • A.J. McKee (154.7) vs. Roberto de Souza (156)
  • Kleber Koike Erbst (145.2) vs. Patricio Freire (145)
  • [autotag]Kyoji Horiguchi[/autotag] (124.8) vs. [autotag]Hiromasa Ougikubo[/autotag] (125.4)
  • [autotag]Juan Archuleta[/autotag] (134) vs. [autotag]Soo Chul Kim[/autotag] (133.8)
  • [autotag]Gadzhi Rabadanov[/autotag] (155.9) vs. [autotag]Koji Takeda[/autotag] (156)

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for Rizin FF 40: Rizin vs. Bellator.

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Matchup Roundup: New UFC and Bellator fights announced in the past week (Oct. 24-30)

All the UFC and Bellator fight announcements that were first reported or confirmed by MMA Junkie in the past week.

MMA fight announcements are hard to follow. With so many outlets and channels available, it’s nearly impossible to organize.

But here at MMA Junkie, we’ve got your back.

Each week, we’ll compile all the newly surfaced fights in one spot. Every Monday, expect a feature listing everything you might have missed from the UFC or Bellator.

Here are the fight announcements that were broken or confirmed by MMA Junkie from Oct. 24-30.

Inaugural Rizin vs. Bellator event could start new MMA tradition – with pride on the line

“The Bellator all-star team vs. the Rizin all-star team” is what Scott Coker says we have to look forward to this New Year’s Eve.

For [autotag]A.J. McKee[/autotag], it was watching “Rampage” Jackson kick ass in PRIDE back in the day. For [autotag]Patricio Freire[/autotag], it was Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira and Wanderlei Silva doing the same. For [autotag]Juan Archuleta[/autotag], “Dragon Ball Z” is what got him.

Since they were young, each of those three Bellator champions past and present have dreamed of fighting in Japan, hallowed ground for martial arts. They’ll soon have the chance after Rizin president Nobuyuki Sakakibara and Bellator president Scott Coker on Wednesday jointly announced Rizin 40 as a Rizin vs. Bellator New Year’s Eve event at Saitama Super Arena just outside of Tokyo.

Five Rizin and Bellator standouts each will square off. McKee will take on Rizin lightweight champion Roberto de Souza; Bellator featherweight champion Freire will face Rizin champ Kleber Koike; Archuleta will meet Kim Soo Chul at bantamweight; and Bellator’s Kyoji Horiguchi and Rizin’s Hiromasa Ougikubo will fight for a third time. A fifth matchup is still to be announced.

“Being here now in this moment, it’s phenomenal,” McKee said during Wednesday’s news conference.

Rizin and Bellator have cross-promoted several individual fights in the past few years but never have they co-promoted a full Rizin vs. Bellator-branded card – until now. It’s all possible thanks to the friendly relationship between Sakakibara and Coker, who’ve known each other for 16 years and decided to start working together in 2015.

For Rizin vs. Bellator, the idea wasn’t just to pick any fighters from each organization to compete. It was to pit some of the best against the best.

“The Bellator all-star team vs. the Rizin all-star team,” Coker said. “This is something I wanted to see; this is something he wanted to see. When I asked Sakakibara about this event, ‘What are you looking to do?’ Because he brought it up about six months ago. And he said, ‘I want you to bring your best fighters in these weight classes. I don’t want any journeymen. I want the best fighters you have.’ So that’s what we did. Every fighter we’re bringing is either a champion in Bellator or a former world champion in Bellator. And we’re ready to fight the Rizin all-star team on December 31st.”

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Rizin 40 will mark the 22nd consecutive year that Saitama Super Arena will host New Year’s Eve MMA action. As it’s taking place in Japan and a de facto home game, this first iteration of Rizin vs. Bellator will be contested in a ring – not a cage – and under Rizin rules.

The hope, Sakakibara said, is for this to become a tradition.

“I think this will be the first time in the history of MMA where two promotions will fully go at it with their best guys,”Sakakibara said through an interpreter. “… We do not want to make this event a one-shot deal. We want to make it a consecutive thing, maybe an annual thing, maybe a bi-annual thing.”

Sounds like a win for MMA fans.

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VIDEO: Rizin vs. Bellator New Year’s Eve faceoffs – including Noboyuki Sakakibara vs. Scott Coker!

With the five Rizin vs. Bellator matchups for Rizin 40 announced, the events top stars faced off – and so did the men in charge.

With the four of the five Rizin vs. Bellator matchups for Rizin 40 announced, the events top stars faced off – and so did the men in charge.

That’s right, even Bellator president Scott Coker and Rizin president Noboyuki Sakakibara jumped in and had a faceoff of their own to help promote the event.

On Wednesday, the promotions announced matchups for the Dec. 31 card at Saitama Super Arena were four matchups, including the headliner where former Bellator champion [autotag]A.J. McKee[/autotag] (19-1) and Rizin lightweight champion [autotag]Roberto de Souza[/autotag] (14-1) are set to clash.

Scroll below to check out the fighters squaring off for the first time Wednesday during a press conference in Japan.