Archie Colgan remained undefeated following Bellator 297, where he won his toughest test yet against ex-title challenger Emmanuel Sanchez.
Colgan (8-0) admitted following the fight, however, that he had expected the finish, rather than the unanimous decision he eventually won.
“If I’m going to be honest, I did truly believe that I was going to get the finish in that fight,” Colgan told media outlets including Cageside Press on Friday. “Leading into the fight I believed that, and even during the fight. I was hitting him with some big shots, I was doing the damage, and yeah. I believed until I maybe heard about 30 seconds left — up until then.”
“I see how why he’s 20 fights in Bellator and hasn’t been finished,” Colgan added, explaining that “He’s tough. Literally what I said, he’s a hard-nosed Mexican fighter, and he’s going to be there until the fight is over. And he was.”
“I pride myself on being strong, explosive, and accurate. I was all of those things, and he withstood it.”
There are a few things lightweight Colgan prides himself on, another being composure.
“Composure is one of the things I also pride myself a lot on. I’ve been a competitor since I’ve known life. Four years old is when I started wrestling, I literally don’t know life without competing. I don’t,” said Colgan. “I can’t remember a day before four years old. So as long as I can remember life and being on this earth, I remember competing. And composure goes a long way.”
As for the ground game with Sanchez, Colgan told Cageside Press that “I felt very confident in the positions I was going to be in with Emmanuel Sanchez, or any other black belt, after taking them down.”
“I don’t put myself in bad positions, I stay in strong contact. I’m going to be a hard person to choke in those situations,” he added. “I don’t have a neck, I’m a fairly muscular guy. So even if I got put in a bad situation, I could use my strength to help me get out of those positions. I felt very confident in all those situations.”
Watch the full Bellator 297 post-fight press conference appearance by Archie Colgan above.
