Photo via @Rizin_PR on Twitter
Juan Archuleta on Soo Chul Kim “We’re going to steal the show”
Juan Archuleta tests skills with Soo Chul Kim at Bellator vs Rizin on December 31st.
Archuleta returned to Bowks Talking Bouts and ‘The Spaniard’ touched on several subjects during our recent conversation. Excerpts from our chat are below.
Juan Archuleta
Archuleta’s level of prior awareness with Kim’s career and The Spaniard’s feelings on this next fight
“I’m a fan of MMA. I’ve watched it since the late ’90s. I’ve always been intrigued into it, I’ve wrestled my whole life. So it’s been part of my life growing up. It’s just something that I’m very passionate about. I’m educated when it comes to martial arts. Stepping into the ring that night, it’s going to be memorable for me. It’s going to be a complete honor. I’m going to pay homage to those that came before me.”
Archuleta continued, “Right now, I am super grateful for this. History in the making, promotion against promotion. Soo Chul Kim right now is a game opponent. We’re about to put on a fucking hell of a show. I believe our fight is going to show the well-roundedness of both of us. We’re both good on our feet, we’re both good at wrestling, we’re both good at jiu-jitsu.”
“It’s going to be very similar to (Enrique) Barzola and the fans loved it. The fans were oohing and awing the whole time in Long Beach because it was a great martial arts fight and that’s what this fight’s going to be. We’re going to steal the show and I know that fans are going to be intrigued into this fight.”
Bellator vs Rizin
If Archuleta has trained differently for the Rizin ruleset and competing in a ring as opposed to a cage
“No, man. I mean a fight’s a fight. Whether you’re doing it in the street, in the cage, in the gym, in the ring, wherever it may be. I have a very PRIDE style type of fighting in me anyway. If you’ve seen my fights, I’ve come close to kicking people in the head on occasions of like overwhelming myself and just fighting. It’s fighting; when you’re in the cage, you’re just in a fight. You’re getting punched in the face as hard as the other person can punch you in the face. So you know you’re not thinking about the rules. You’re thinking about kill or be killed when you’re in there.”
“Now there’s not as many rules as we have for Bellator going into this Rizin fight. So it makes it extremely dangerous going into this fight like for both fighters. Like we get to do things that we’re not accustomed to doing but at the end of the day, it’s a fight. The only thing we’re not going to be doing is scratching, biting, headbutting, and kicking in the privates. Other than that, everything’s a go. Twelve to six elbows, knees on the ground, like everything’s going on in this fight. It’s going to be awesome, it’s going to be a real fight.”
