{"id":159479,"date":"2025-09-21T19:53:08","date_gmt":"2025-09-21T19:53:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/159479\/"},"modified":"2025-09-21T19:53:08","modified_gmt":"2025-09-21T19:53:08","slug":"oldest-signing-in-ufc-history-mma-legend-confirms-ufc-talks-wants-top-10-right-away","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/159479\/","title":{"rendered":"Oldest signing in UFC history? MMA legend confirms UFC talks, wants top 10 &#8216;right away&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>A 38-year-old former champion could be joining the UFC roster soon.<\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/bloodyelbow.com\/tag\/ufc\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">UFC<\/a> doesn\u2019t sign too many fighters over the age of 35, but they have made a few exceptions over the years.<\/p>\n<p>Earlier this year, the premier promotion signed the likes of Bellator GOAT <a href=\"https:\/\/bloodyelbow.com\/tag\/patricio-pitbull\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Patricio Pitbull<\/a> at the age of 37 and former Bellator star Mandel Nallo at the age of 36, <a href=\"https:\/\/bloodyelbow.com\/2025\/09\/16\/contender-series-oldest-contract-winner-gives-advice-to-fighters-35-and-over-chasing-ufc\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">making Nallo the oldest contract winner in Contender Series history<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>As far as UFC history goes, the oldest fighter to ever make their UFC debut was 51-year-old Ron Van Clief at UFC 4 over 30 years ago. However, this was his only UFC fight.<\/p>\n<p>Another Bellator veteran made his case for the UFC after back-to-back wins on the regional scene.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1080\" loading=\"lazy\"  data-id=\"254573\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/GettyImages-1239944543-scaled-e1758429515371.jpg\" alt=\"Juan Archuleta posing at Bellator event\" class=\"wp-image-254573\" \/>Photo by Hans Gutknecht\/MediaNews Group\/Los Angeles Daily News via Getty ImagesJuan Archuleta says he\u2019ll talk with UFC matchmaker on Monday<\/p>\n<p>At 38 years old, <a href=\"https:\/\/bloodyelbow.com\/tag\/juan-archuleta\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Juan Archuleta<\/a> has never fought in the UFC.<\/p>\n<p>Archuleta (31-7) is a former bantamweight champion in <a href=\"https:\/\/bloodyelbow.com\/tag\/bellator\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Bellator<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/bloodyelbow.com\/tag\/rizin\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">RIZIN<\/a>, and was a former four-division champion in King of the Cage. <\/p>\n<p>Archuleta defended his BORROKA featherweight title against Jose Johnson at XFC 53 on Saturday, <a href=\"https:\/\/bloodyelbow.com\/2025\/09\/21\/ex-bellator-and-rizin-champion-calls-for-ufc-contract-after-smoking-former-ufc-fighter\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">submitting the former UFC fighter in two rounds<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Post-fight, Archuleta called out the likes of top contenders <a href=\"https:\/\/bloodyelbow.com\/tag\/diego-lopes\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Diego Lopes<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/bloodyelbow.com\/tag\/dan-ige\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Dan Ige<\/a>, wanting to be signed to the UFC.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMade the statement that I needed to make,\u201d Archuleta told <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/reel\/DO2t8jgjiq-\/?igsh=Y3lzYmN5MzVyZTU2\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Destiny McCubbin<\/a> in an interview.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cShowed them that I outclassed him and that I don\u2019t need these tune-up fights anymore.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI need to be signed,\u201d Archuleta said of the UFC.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI need to fight top 10 right away\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Archuleta confirmed an upcoming meeting with UFC matchmaker Sean Shelby, who was in attendance for the main event.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThankfully, Sean [Shelby] was in the stands, and he said let\u2019s talk Monday, and we\u2019ll book something from there,\u201d said Archuleta.<\/p>\n<p>Who are other UFC fighters that have been signed over the age of 35?<\/p>\n<p>One of the UFC\u2019s oldest signings was boxer James Toney, who made his promotional debut days after his 42nd birthday in 2010.<\/p>\n<p>Toney only fought once in a crossover fight against Randy Couture, where he was submitted in the opening round.<\/p>\n<p>In the same year, MMA legend Mark Hunt was 36 years old when he entered the Octagon for the first time.<\/p>\n<p>Patricio Pitbull was 37 for his debut earlier this year and the 36-year-old Mandel Nallo has yet to book his first fight since winning a contract.<\/p>\n<p>Time will tell if the UFC picks up Juan Archuleta, who turned 38 years old a week ago.<\/p>\n<p>  <script async src=\"\/\/www.instagram.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A 38-year-old former champion could be joining the UFC roster soon. The UFC doesn\u2019t sign too many fighters&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":159480,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[570],"tags":[64,63,786,105966,785,85,787],"class_list":["post-159479","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mma","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-fighting","tag-juan-archuleta","tag-mma","tag-sports","tag-ufc"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/159479","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=159479"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/159479\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/159480"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=159479"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=159479"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=159479"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}