Eduardo Dantas will try his hand at featherweight, taking on the formidable Juan Archuleta at Bellator 222 next month in New York City.
Former Bellator bantamweight champion Eduardo Dantas is moving on up to 145. Dantas (21-6), a formidable champ at 135lbs, will face the red-hot Juan Archuleta (22-1) when he moves to featherweight, in a bout added to next month’s Bellator 222. MMA Fighting was among the first to report the match-up.
Dantas will enter the contest off a win over Toby Misech at Bellator 215 in February. That snapped a two-fight losing skid that saw Brazil’s Dantas snap a leg, in a losing effort against Michael McDonald. Prior to the McDonald fight, Dantas lost his championship to Darrion Caldwell.
Dantas twice reigned over the 135lb weight class in Bellator, and holds key wins over Marcos Galvao and Joe Warren, among others.
Archuleta actually dropped to bantamweight for his last fight, earning a unanimous decision over Ricky Bandejas at Bellator 214. However, he has spent much of his time at featherweight. Overall, ‘The Spaniard’ is 4-0 in Bellator. More importantly, he’s on a 17 fight win streak, and has not lost since an appearance under the World Series of Fighting banner in 2015.
Bellator 222 takes place June 14 at Madison Square Garden in New York City. The card includes Chael Sonnen facing Lyoto Machida, Rory MacDonald taking on Neiman Gracie in the welterweight grand prix, and Darrion Caldwell facing RIZIN’s Kyoji Horiguchi in a rematch of their New Year’s Eve battle.
