This past weekend at Bellator 258, Juan Archuleta (25-3) and Sergio Pettis (21-5) battled it out for the bantamweight title. Archuleta was looking to defend his title for the first time while Pettis was looking to become the second world champion in his family.
Throughout his MMA career, Sergio Pettis has lived in the shadow of his brother Anthony. The elder Pettis has been a UFC and WEC lightweight champion and with that, he’s garnered the majority of the attention.
That said, Sergio Pettis has been on a roll and he’s really taken off in Bellator. After a successful stint with the UFC, Pettis jumped ship to Bellator where he won his first two fights to earn him a shot at Archuleta on Friday night.
Heading into the fight, I figured the fight was going to be extremely close. I figured the grappling of Archuleta would really help him retain his Bellator title, but I knew Pettis had a real shot to take the belt.
In the end, all night long, Sergio Pettis was a step ahead of Juan Archuleta. Archuleta was more active, but Pettis was catching him with more clean shots. I personally thought the fight was closer than the scores suggested. However, after watching a second time, the right man won last weekend.
Sergio Pettis earned a clean sweep of the scorecards as he captured the Bellator bantamweight title. The judges had it 50-45, 49-46, 49-46 as the younger Pettis joined his brother as a world champion in the family.
What’s next after Bellator 258?
Bellator’s bantamweight division is one of their best divisions. There are a number of top contenders to watch. With that, here will be no shortage of options for Pettis’ first title defense.
One thing we know for sure, Juan Archuleta will not get an immediate rematch. Archuleta just became the champion and with the lopsided scores, we can pretty safely rule him out for Sergio’s first defense.
I think there are two Bellator bantamweights who are in the lead for the next shot. One being Raufeon Stots (16-1). Stots is an interesting one because him and Sergio are teammates. However, Pettis alluded to the fact that they might have to fight in the future.
Stots is 4-0 in Bellator and he’s knocking on the door of a title shot. The other contender is Magomed Magomedov (18-1). Magomedov is 2-0 since joining Bellator and his lone loss is to former UFC bantamweight champion Petr Yan.
Stots or Magomedov are the two leading candidates. Patchy Mix (14-1) and James Gallagher (11-1) are also options, but I think the promotion will try to pair those two for a fight against each other later this summer.