After exiting the featherweight grand prix, Henry Corrales will look to get back in the win column this weekend at Bellator 238, against the dangerous Juan Archuleta.
If you’ve spoken to Henry Corrales, who returns to action at Bellator 238, or are familiar with him at all, you probably know he’s not a big talker. Not about to talk trash unnecessarily to garner attention. Not about to use any sort of hijinks outside the cage to land fights.
So it’s not surprise that Corrales (17-4) took his loss to Darrion Caldwell in the opening round of the Bellator featherweight grand prix in stride. No sour grapes. Speaking to “OK” Corrales ahead of his return, against fellow grand prix alum Juan Archuleta, he explained that losing in the grand prix was no worse than any other loss.
That, despite a belt and a million dollars slipping through his fingers. “No, not at all actually,” he said. And although it was “pretty lame, you know, another man holding you against your will,” Corrales added that “once the fight was over, it was all good. I was over it. It was just back to work, training. The feeling that overrides anything is just my love of fighting. All the other wins and losses don’t really define me.”
While we spoke, Corrales was attending a high altitude bar, something he says he does at least twice a week. “I started it towards the end of my last camp,” he revealed. “I had a really good camp last fight.” No excuses for the loss, in other words. Now, he’s “picking up where we left off, and taking it to the next level.”
After the loss to Caldwell bounced him from the grand prix, Corrales posted a quote on instagram that read “the measure of a man’s character is not determined by how he handles his wins, but how he handles his failures.” It’s a quote attributed to Football coach Bill Courtney.
“I’ve kind of been dealing with failure all my life,” Corrales told us when explaining why he posted those particular words. For the longest time, said Corrales, he didn’t respond to setbacks “in the most respectful manner. But the older I get, I feel like those failures are starting to build me. Like I mentioned earlier, any time a guy holds you against you will — what does that mean? Well to me that means you’ve got to step your wrestling up.”
“It’s just the typical story of learning from your failures and mistakes and sh*t.” In the long run, the losses will make him stronger. “I’ve lost before, and I seem to bounce back a lot stronger.”
As the tournament moves on without him, Corrales gave his pick for who could win it all. “Definitely the champion is the favorite in my mind. [Patricio] Pitbull, he’s tried and true. That guy’s literally passed so many tests. It seems like he’s the logical, rational favorite.”
That said, Corrales added, he wouldn’t be surprised if someone else took it all. And he’s not rooting for Darrion Caldwell just because the former bantamweight champ beat him to move forward in the grand prix. “I think if I was, it would be kind of egotistical on my part. Just to make myself feel better. But at the end of the day I don’t give a sh*t.”
Juan Archuleta
Against Juan Archuleta, Corrales faces an impressive opponent who had a lengthy win streak snapped in a title fight with Patricio Pitbull. But Corrales sees at least one advantage going into the fight.
“I think what gives me the edge with anybody I get in there with is my fighting spirit,” said Corrales. “I think I’m going to have the edge there.”
With both men having recently been ejected from the grand prix, some have wondered whether Corrales vs. Archuleta will be an alternate bout. If it is, Corrales for one isn’t aware of it. “Somebody mentioned that the last interview I did, but that’s the first I’d heard of it,” he noted.
“I don’t want to be known to the public for anything else. I’m a fighter, that’s it.”
Still, the stakes don’t matter. “I’m on the main card, big stage, fighting a tough dude. F*ck, it’s everything I signed up for. So let’s f*cking party!”
As he heads into 2020, Corrales said that his goal for the year is “probably more of the same. Just working hard, working smart, fighting everyone. I want all the tough guys, I want bigger money, I just want to make some noise with my fighting style. And that’s it. I don’t want to be known to the public for anything else. I’m a fighter, that’s it.”
In other words, he wants to let his fighting do the talking. “Yeah buddy!” Corrales said to that notion.
Henry Corrales faces Juan Archuleta this Saturday, January 25 at Bellator 238, going down live at The Forum in Inglewood (Los Angeles), California. The card airs live on DAZN.
