Surging Bellator bantamweight contender, Raufeon Stots has advanced to the Bellator MMA World Grand Prix semi final bracket — as well as minting himself as the interim division gold holder — stopping former undisputed bantamweight best, Juan Archuleta with a stunning third round high kick in the co-main event of Bellator 279 in Honolulu, Hawaii.
Stots, who entered tonight’s re-shuffled bantamweight Grand Prix quarter final bracket against Archuleta off the back of an impressive unanimous decision win over Magomed Magomedov, managed to utilize his wrestling in the opening round in response to some wrestling offense from Archuleta, before successfully defending a slew of takedown attempts in the second frame.
However, early in the third round, Stots managed to find his target with a high-kick-come-knee — catching Archuleta and becoming the first to finish the former undisputed champion with strikes in the process. Stots is now slated to move onto the semi-final bracket where he is joined by fellow surging grappling ace, Patchy Mix who turned in an impressive five round unanimous decision win over Kyoji Horiguchi earlier tonight.