The King Is Back! "King Arthur" Art Arciniega returns to Tachi Palace for A1 Combat 8 Feb 3rd.

Photo courtesy/A1combat.com

It is fight week in the Valley!.. Again! A1 Combat has arrived to the Tachi Palace Casino & Resort in Lemoore, Ca for A1 Combat 8 Friday February 3rd, 2023. MMA is back at the Tachi Palace!, and it is a huge deal for the Valley MMA fans. A1 Combat plans to celebrate accordingly as the promotion has teamed up with the Tachi Palace Casino & Resort to hold the first ever ceremony for the Tachi Palace Hall of Fame that will take place before the main card at A1 Combat 8.

The Card is loaded with some great matchups including fighters from throughout the Valley ready to put on a show. The main event will be for the A1 Combat Flyweight title as (11-1) Joseph Morales takes on (8-5) Anthony Do. However it is the co main event that has all the old school Central Valley MMA fans buzzing. Two OG's from Tachi Palace's MMA past are back as former two time champ (16-7) "King Arthur" Art Arciniega returns to take on Lemoore's own (14-24) Sergio "The Outlaw" Quinones. Quinones

last saw action winning a title in San Francisco in May of last year. Art Arciniega hasn't competed since one of the last shows that was held at Tachi Palace back in 2018.

I caught up with Dos Palos's Art "King Arthur" Arciniega, who now lives in Fresno prior to his return to the cage at A1 Combat 8. I asked how life has been? Where he's been? Since Arciniega hadn't fought for a while, many in the Valley assumed that he may have quietly hung up the gloves. They were wrong, and so was I. Art responded with,

"Hey Valley Fight News! I’ve been well. Working, working out and enjoying making memories with friends and family.  I’ve been trying to fight again since my last fight in 2018 but fate had other plans.  After healing some injuries in 2018, once I was ready to go, Tachi Palace Fights stopped putting on events. As we searched out options in 2019 with other promotions, the pay was not enough for me. What they were offering was barely going to cover my meal preps."

As we all know the pandemic would hit in 2020, but Art stood busy perfecting his craft in his time away from competing. "King Arthur" stood ready and active in looking for fights following the lock downs, but in his time away Art seems to have found his worth as he explains

"The pandemic hit in 2020 so that year was a wash as far as competing goes. 2021 as promotions were starting to throw shows again, I was back to my previous dilemma of low pay. 2022 was the same. And now in 2023 with A1 Combat bringing back pro fights back to Tachi, I was happy with the negotiations and here I am, ready to fight again."

Although Arciniega hasn't fought in some time, he has stayed active in Jiu Jitsu. I asked how training for this fight has been going. He replied,

"Training for this fight has been going superb. I had been feeding my competition hunger by doing jiu-jitsu tournaments, so I came into camp already in shape. Just had to dial it up to prepare for a possible 15 minute war. I have been working with my team as always at Pacific Martial Arts and Bullpen Boxing. Of course we brought the band back together and got all my coaches together. Head coach Jorge Ruiz, boxing coach Christian Espinoza, jiu-jitsu coach Dennis Abrego, strength & conditioning coach Pete Sierra, and coach Eddie Refuerzo out of Manny’s Kickboxing Gym for muay thai."

Pro MMA is back at the Tachi Palace Casino & Resort on February 3rd, 2023.  As Urijah Faber's A1 Combat makes its way to the historic MMA grounds in Lemoore, Ca. I asked Arciniega what it meant to be back at the place he has had so many wars at?, he said

"It feels great coming back to fight at Tachi Palace, I have lots of amazing memories and moments here. Winning two titles of course are some of my favorites. I love MMA, and no one even myself thought I’d be out here Randy Couture’n it in my 40s but here I am. I’m grateful for the opportunity to continue doing what I love and blessed to be healthy and still have the ability to compete."

"King Arthur" takes on a very familiar opponent in Team Ochoa's (14-24) Sergio "The Outlaw" Quinones out of Lemoore. The two fought on the same cards in the past and now will share the cage. Not looking past this fight, I asked Arciniega what the goal was for him in MMA and what he expected from Quinones Friday night? Art stated

"Sergio is a fellow gangster like myself.  I expect the best Sergio possible and I am excited to test myself against him. I’m not looking past Sergio, but when I envision a path, I see myself wining this fight and fighting for the A1 Combat lightweight title later this year. First things first and that’s getting the win on Friday."

Arciniega finished by thanking all his supporters, sponsors, and coaches saying,

"I’d like to thank my sponsors The Law office of Jonathan Rooker, New Thai Cuisine, Tatarakis Farming Company, Law offices of Bryan K Leiser, Ramos Infamous Six, Creative Design League, and Redwave Tattoo. Their financial help for this camp allowed me to focus on my training and be stress free on getting my meals and medicals paid for. I would also like to thank my coaches and teammates for helping me prepare and be ready for the task at hand. Thank you Pacific Martial Arts, Bullpen Boxing, Powered by Pete, Manny Mancha Kickboxing Gym, and my Manager Isaac Ruiz from Team Ruiz Fighter Management"

A1 Combat goes down Friday February 3rd, 2023 from the Tachi Palace Casino & Resort in Lemoore, Ca. The Tachi Palace Hall of Fame ceremony is included with your fight ticket, and will take place before the main card. Tickets available at www.eventbrite.com/e/urijah-fabers-a1-combat-8-tachi-palace-tickets-469524449267 

For more info on this years Tachi Palace Hall of Fame inductees check out the link www.valleyfightnews.com/2023/01/tachi-palace-hall-of-fame-to-honor.html 

Follow "King Arthur" Art Arciniega on IG at www.instagram.com/kingarthurmma/?hl=en on Facebook at www.facebook.com/art.arciniega.9/ and on twitter at https://twitter.com/kingarthurmma

A1 Comat 8 Card:

A1 Combat Flyweight Championship (11-1) Joseph Morales vs (8-5) Anthony Do

(16-7) Art "King Arthur" Arciniega vs (14-24) Sergio "The Outlaw" Quinones

(Pro Debut) AJ Perez vs (Pro Debut) Kail Melton

(1-1) Diego Bigelow vs (Pro Debut) Christian Marron

(2-0) Ernie Juarez vs (2-0) Alex Arteaga

(Pro Debut) Arturo Burgos vs (Pro Debut) Dominic Pasquale

(1-0) Racelis Cardenas vs (Pro Debut) Elijah Ozuna

(2-11) Luis Correira vs (5-5) Bruno Casillas

Urijah Faber’s A1 Combat 8 will also air live on UFC Fight Pass

Check out A1 Combat at www.a1combat.com on Facebook@ www.facebook.com/CaliMMApromoter on IG@ www.instagram.com/a1_combat

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By: Daniel “Trip” Quintana www.noweakshitever.com