{"id":160330,"date":"2025-09-22T00:40:10","date_gmt":"2025-09-22T00:40:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/160330\/"},"modified":"2025-09-22T00:40:10","modified_gmt":"2025-09-22T00:40:10","slug":"juan-archuleta-submits-jose-johnson-at-xfc-53-in-vegas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/160330\/","title":{"rendered":"Juan Archuleta submits Jose Johnson at XFC 53 in Vegas"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">When <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mmamania.com\/2021\/2\/5\/22250617\/full-fight-replay-spaniard-juan-archuleta-wins-the-title-at-bellator-246\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">former Bellator Bantamweight champion<\/a> Juan Archuleta began his year, he had one clear mission: make one final push to secure a spot in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). After last night, that dream may be closer than ever.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">That\u2019s because UFC matchmaker Sean Shelby was cageside for Archuleta\u2019s title fight at BORROKA Presents XFC 53, held inside Virgin Hotels in Las Vegas, Nevada (Sat., Sept. 20, 2025). The 38-year-old veteran rose to the occasion, submitting former UFC fighter Jose Johnson in the second round to extend his winning streak.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">\u201cI\u2019m happy. I made the statement I needed to make,\u201d Archuleta said. \u201cOutclassed him and showed everyone I don\u2019t need these tune-up fights anymore. I need to be signed, I need to fight someone in the top 10 right away. Thankfully, Sean Shelby was in the stands and said, \u2018Let\u2019s talk Monday, and we\u2019ll book something from there.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">For Archuleta, the timing couldn\u2019t be more crucial. While fans (and I) would love to see the former Bellator champ inside the Octagon before he calls it a career, the reality is that UFC rarely signs fighters approaching 40. Still, exceptions exist. Earlier this year, Patricio Pitbull\u2014also 38\u2014<a href=\"https:\/\/www.mmamania.com\/2025\/4\/2\/24399921\/pfl-broadcaster-sean-oconnell-predicts-a-patricio-pitbull-flop-at-ufc-314-time-will-tell\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">inked a UFC deal<\/a>, proving that age alone isn\u2019t always a barrier.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Archuleta (30-7) now rides a two-fight win streak. Before last night\u2019s submission, \u201cThe Spaniard\u201d delivered one of the year\u2019s most spectacular knockouts with a flying knee to capture the Borroka featherweight title (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.mmamania.com\/2025\/6\/22\/24453541\/highlights-former-bellator-champion-juan-archuleta-lands-beautiful-flying-knee-knockout-at-borroka-3\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">watch highlights<\/a>). With momentum back on his side\u2014and a UFC matchmaker\u2019s attention\u2014his long-awaited Octagon debut may finally be on the horizon.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">For more regional MMA news and notes click <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mmamania.com\/regional-mma-news-results\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When former Bellator Bantamweight champion Juan Archuleta began his year, he had one clear mission: make one final&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":160331,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[444],"tags":[49,48,641,33601,638,22248,82,702],"class_list":["post-160330","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mma","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-fighting","tag-latest-ufc-mma-news","tag-mma","tag-regional-mma-news-results","tag-sports","tag-ufc-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/160330","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=160330"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/160330\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/160331"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=160330"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=160330"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=160330"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}