5 Things You Might Not Know About Raufeon Stots

Raufeon Stots has thrived in relative anonymity, but Bellator MMA now appears ready, willing and able to expose him to a wider audience.

The surging, once-beaten contender will step into the spotlight when he faces Juan Archuleta for the interim bantamweight championship in the Bellator 279 co-main event on Saturday at the Neil S. Blaisdell Center in Honolulu. Stots enters the cage on the strength of a nine-fight winning streak that spans nearly five years. He last appeared at Bellator 264, where he was awarded a unanimous decision over Magomed Magomedov in their three-round clash on Aug. 13.

As Stots moves ever closer to his date with Archuleta at 135 pounds, here are five things you might not know about him:

1. He earned his stripes on the mat.

Stots was a standout wrestler in high school and college who won two national championships with the University of Nebraska at Kearney—a Division II institution where he recorded 66 victories across parts of three seasons. The school was also once home to current Ultimate Fighting Championship welterweight titleholder Kamaru Usman.

2. High achievers surround him.

The Houston native operates out of the Roufusport MMA Academy camp in Milwaukee, where he trains under former world kickboxing champion Duke Roufus and enjoys access to a number of world-class stablemates, including Anthony Pettis, Belal Muhammad, Emmanuel Sanchez and Ben Askren.

3. He has been fitted for gold before.

Stots laid claim to the Victory Fighting Championships bantamweight crown when he took a five-round unanimous decision from “The Ultimate Fighter” Season 5 graduate Robert Emerson at VFC 56 on April 14, 2017. He put together a perfect 6-0 record in the Nebraska-based organization.

4. It took a lightning bolt to bring him down.

The 33-year-old Stots suffered his only professional setback in June 2017, when Merab Dvalishvili leveled him with a spinning backfist just 15 seconds into their Ring of Combat 59 pairing in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Dvalishvili has since compiled a 7-2 record in the UFC, where he carries a No. 6 ranking in the bantamweight division.

5. He prefers the marathon to the sprint.

Stots has recorded 10 wins by decision, all of the unanimous variety. Four of those victories took place in Bellator, where he has outpointed Magomedov, Josh Hill, Keith Lee and Cheyden Leialoha since he arrived on the scene in 2019.