Rivalries: Veta Arteaga

Veta Arteaga never backs away from a challenge, even when it requires her to travel halfway across the globe to meet it.

The 35-year-old Bellator MMA mainstay will toe the line against Kana Watanabe in a Bellator x Rizin 2 women’s flyweight feature on Saturday at the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan. Arteaga has won two of her past three bouts. However, she finds herself on the rebound following a unanimous decision defeat to the unbeaten Sumiko Inaba at Bellator 295 on April 22.

As Arteaga makes final preparations for her forthcoming clash with Watanabe at 125 pounds, a look at some of the rivalries that have helped shape her career to this point.

Anastasia Yankova

The American Kickboxing Academy export stayed undefeated and eked out a split decision over Arteaga in their Bellator 161 catchweight attraction on Sept. 16, 2016 at the HEB Center in Cedar Park, Texas. All three judges scored it 29-28: Jay Stafin for Arteaga, Jon Schorle and Anthony Townsend for Yankova. Arteaga put the Russian muay Thai stylist in real peril in the first round, where she buckled her knees with three or four clean right hands. Yankova continued to move forward, her chin and head exposed, and slowly wore down the Combat Fitness standout with pace and output. Arteaga connected in two-, three- and four-punch bursts but seemed to run out of gas at the midway point of the match. Yankova found another gear in the third round, where she backed up the Idaho-based flyweight with front kicks to the face, short punches in the clinch and standing elbows in close quarters.

Denise Kielholtz

Arteaga dispatched the decorated Dutch kickboxer with a standing guillotine choke in the second round of their Bellator 205 women’s flyweight showcase on Sept. 21, 2018 at CenturyLink Arena in Boise, Idaho. The curtain was drawn 4:24 into Round 2. Kielholtz peppered the Idahoan with clean two- and three-punch combinations and held her own in the clinch throughout much of the first round. However, Arteaga exposed her vulnerabilities in the scrambles. She executed a takedown in the middle stanza, settled in half guard and applied her ground-and-pound. Late in the round, Kielholtz swooped in for a takedown of her own, only to wander into the guillotine. Arteaga adjusted her grip with her back to the fence, tightened her squeeze and elicited the tapout.

Ilima-Lei Macfarlane

The Hawaiian kept her perfect professional record intact and retained the Bellator MMA women’s flyweight championship with a cut-induced technical knockout of Arteaga in the Bellator 220 co-main event on April 27, 2019 at the SAP Center in San Jose, California. Referee Jason Herzog called for the stoppage on the advice of the cageside physician 1:50 into Round 3. Macfarlane had her hands full. Arteaga resisted “The Ilimanator” at every turn, bloodied her nose with an elbow strike from the bottom in the second round and turned it into a brawl on the feet. However, Macfarlane executed a takedown inside the first minute of Round 3, moved to a crouched position inside the challenger’s guard and drove an elbow into her forehead. Arteaga’s skin split, and blood poured from the wound. When the two women returned to their feet, Herzog paused the action, had the doctor examine Arteaga and waved it off. Fifteen stitches were required to close the cut.

Vanessa Porto

Arteaga put away the former Invicta Fighting Championships titleholder with a second-round guillotine choke as part of the Bellator 283 undercard on July 22, 2022 at the Emerald Queen Casino in Tacoma, Washington. Porto checked out 3:47 into Round 2, suffering her first submission defeat in nearly a decade. Arteaga pressed forward from the outset. Porto answered with clean right hands and leg kicks, forcing the organizational mainstay to briefly reassess her position. From there, a relatively even first round was marked by a series of standup exchanges in which neither woman showed a willingness to back down. Arteaga opened a cut near the highly regarded Brazilian’s hairline with an elbow strike midway through the middle stanza and continued to keep her foot on the accelerator. She then sprawled on an ill-advised takedown attempt from Porto, snapped down on the guillotine and forced the tapout after a brief struggle.