Sherdog Prospect Watch: Archie Colgan

Archie Colgan will face perhaps the toughest test of his career—on paper—when he puts his perfect 10-0 record on the line against fellow undefeated Bellator MMA prospect Manoel Sousa in a Bellator Champions Series 5 lightweight showcase this Saturday at OVO Arena Wembley in London. Implications run deeper than the zeroes in their respective loss columns.

Colgan puts more emphasis on emerging as a champion someday than he does on staying unbeaten. He understands the difficult task ahead of him against Sousa, who has finished 10 of his first 11 opponents.

“Obviously, the past three fights that I’ve had were a step up in the fact of experience and just facing the veteran side of the sport,” Colgan told Sherdog.com. “I think [this] is a step up in the sense that this guy is in a very similar mindset as I am. He’s undefeated, he’s young, he’s coming up [and] he’s got a bunch of confidence in himself, just as I do. I think It’s a step up in that sense.”

Colgan has gone the distance in each of his last three appearances, winning unanimous decisions over Emmanuel Sanchez, Pieter Buist and Thibault Gouti.

“Obviously, I want to get the finish every time—that’s the goal—but I think that I needed these decision wins,” he said. “They were all dominant. I’m leaving with a lot of learning experiences in my career. I think it’s going to be a culmination and on display [in London].”

Although the narrative surrounding his showdown with Souza involves two undefeated prospects squaring off inside the cage, Colgan finds more motivation in continuing to improve with each outing. He understands that stacking up wins eventually leads to a championship opportunity, but he does not focus on being undefeated.

“It’s a double-edged sword because obviously you want to win,” he said. “Therefore, you don’t want to lose. That’s a no-brainer. I want to win. I don’t want to lose, but I’m not tied to this undefeated record. The goal I have written on my board is not to be the undefeated world champion. My goal is I want to be one of the greatest lightweights ever. Whatever that means is what it means. That’s what I’m pursuing. I’m a very competitive person. I don’t want to lose, but it’s not that I’m chasing an undefeated record. I want to be the best.”

Colgan can feel the weight of the opportunity before him and thinks a decisive victory over Sousa would signal to matchmakers that he could be ready for a title shot sooner than expected.

“I think a strong, dominant win here puts me right in that contention,” he said. “Outside of me, I would assume A.J. McKee would be the only other guy, really. Somebody has to be the next person. I think I have to go out there, do my job and be dominant—show that I am who I believe I am—and that’ll put me in the No. 1 contender’s spot or next in line for a title fight.”