Juan Archuleta vs. Henry Corrales
On Saturday, Archuleta will be forced to do something he hasn’t had to do in a really long time — rebound from a loss. The 32-year-old requested to face off against Patricio Friere in the opening round of the Bellator Featherweight Grand Prix and it backfired on him. “Pitbull” soundly beat him and snapped the Spaniard’s 18-fight winning streak. The California native, who has amassed a 23-2 professional record, including winning regional titles in four different weight classes, will look to bring some of the hype he garnered after handling his business in his five previous Bellator scraps. Archuleta is a well-rounded fighter who works at a very high pace. He is relentless with his forward pressure, using constant movement, stance switches and cutting angles to find openings for attacks. He works behind a busy jab that sets up his power punches. He owns 11 career knockouts and turned the lights out on former Bellator bantamweight champion Eduardo Dantas in his last bout. His body work is a very underrated part of his game. He makes the mistake of simply ducking his head in the pocket and firing power shots, which leaves him open to uppercuts. The Treigning Lab representative is a former NCAA Division 1 wrestler who has great timing on his entries and chains his takedowns together well. He transitions back and forth between striking and grappling seamlessly without any telltale signs of his attacks.
The 17-3 Corrales throws caution to the wind, having a propensity for wanting a Rock'em Sock'em brawl in every matchup. The 33-year-old loves to stand his ground and fire off powerful blows, with his overhand right being his signature strike. When he gets clipped with a punch, his usual response is to duck his head and throw a tirade of haymakers with bad intentions. While this reckless style is a gamble and he gets tagged a lot due to a lack of head movement, his chin has held up well so far. When the Fight Ready MMA product stays composed, he attacks with kicks and body punches but neglects technique when a firefight presents itself. An underrated part of Corrales’ game is his dirty boxing. He does well at grabbing the back of his opponent’s head and firing off hooks and uppercuts with his free hand. He is a serviceable offensive wrestler but had no answer for Caldwell’s heavy wrestling game in his last fight — a decision loss in the opening round of the Featherweight Grand Prix. “OK” looks to punish his opponents with ground strikes but does have six submission wins on his record.
This fight will be a matter of how Archuleta wants it to go down. If he wants to excite the crowd and try to stand in the pocket with Corrales, he could win, but he would also playing with fire, as this is Corrale’s forte. I don’t expect him to play that game. He saw how easily Caldwell was able to outwrestle Corrales and he should be able to do the same. I expect Archuleta to rely on his wrestling for the duration of the 15-minute fight to secure a unanimous decision victory.
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