Juan Archuleta: ‘Am I In King of the Cage Again?’
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Juan Archuleta made his bones as a fighter that will compete in any weight class, and do so often. The former King of the Cage multi-division champion feels he has been unable to match that standard as a member of the Bellator MMA roster. On Saturday night, inside The Forum at Bellator 238, “The Spaniard” hopes to start a 2020 campaign that consists with far more activity in the cage.
In the two years before joining Bellator, Archuleta fought 10 times. Over his two years with the organization, he has competed only six times. As a fighter hoping to maximize his income opportunities, that schedule does not cut it. Especially when he believes he has not been used by the promotion when healthy.
“I think [Bellator President] Scott Coker does a great job with the ideas he has. I think they are poorly executed by the other people that are trying to execute it, because they are understaffed in my opinion,” Archuleta told Sherdog. “If it was like two guys making calls for fights; if that’s not enough, put more in there. I’m out here calling out guys. I’ll fight [Derek] Campos at ’55. I’ll fight all these guys that got knocked out of the tournament. I’ll fight up a weight-class. I’ll fight down a weight class. It doesn’t matter to me. These guys need fights, I need fights. But then they want you to fight someone in your backyard. It’s like dude, we’re both from California. You want two guys to fight, and you want them to sell tickets. What the f*ck. Am I in King of the Cage again?”
Along with airing his frustrations with his fight activity, Archuleta also spoke about his September championship bout with featherweight kingpin Patricio Freire and how the last-minute removal of T.J. Dillashaw from his corner affected his mindset, and what makes “Pitbull” such a difficult opponent.
