Erik Perez on historical significance of fighting around Cinco De Mayo
Bellator 258 went down on Friday, May 7th. The event emanated from Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut, and broadcasted on Showtime. This Bellator MMA card featured a world title change. Plus the last quarterfinal bout of the Bellator light heavyweight grand prix, several standout performances in the men’s bantamweight division, and more. I spoke with Erik Perez at the Bellator 258 post-fight press conference. Goyito went into detail about the historical significance of Cinco de Mayo.
Plus, the rich history of combat sports intersecting with May 5th.
Erik Perez
It was Cinco De Mayo a couple days ago. There is such a rich tradition of combat sports coinciding with that, I’m kind of wondering what your feelings are competing on this event that takes place around Cinco de Mayo?
“I mean Cinco de Mayo. Don’t know if Americans or you guys in the world know about Cinco de Mayo or what it is. I saw a picture of (Juan) Archuleta getting the flag. And they say Happy Cinco De Mayo. This is a Spanish guy. This gets me a little, not mad because Cinco de Mayo, everybody can be happy for Cinco De Mayo. American guys get drunk all the time. But Cinco de Mayo is when the Mexicans won the war from the French people.”
“The French people go to Puebla and Mexicans. The military Mexican, win the war and the French people go outside Mexico. So this is Cinco De Mayo. Mexico win versus French. It’s a big, big, big thing because France at that time, it is a first world. Mexico. I mean, Three. Three. What is it called? Not on that level. So Mexico won in that fight. That’s what Cinco De Mayo is. It’s very, very fun to be on this card two days after Cinco De Mayo.”
