John Castaneda Calls Out Combate Americas Opponent for 'Padded' Record | MMAWeekly.com

So far, bantamweight John Castaneda’s 2016 has gone much the same way his 2015 did. In two fights this year, Castaneda has been able to pick up two victories, raising his current winning streak to six in a row.

“In my second to last fight against Gabriel (Solorio), I knew going into that he was a seasoned veteran,” Castaneda told MMAWeekly.com. “I could definitely feel his power and his athleticism and good striking skills, but I was just able to out-class him on the ground.

“My last performance (against Angel Luis Cruz), I took it on a week’s notice. It threw me off a little bit. I came out a little sluggish, but I was able to thankfully pick it up in the second round and get the TKO stoppage.”

With his two wins this year, Castaneda (11-2) has picked up four in the Combate Americas promotion. Because of his success, he’s earned himself a 135-pound main event title bout against Gustavo Lopez (6-1) on Friday in Verona, N.Y.

“Yes, it is a title fight, but this is just another fight for me,” said Castaneda. “I think that I’ve fought a lot tougher guys than Gustavo. I think Gustavo’s record is a bit padded. He has five wins in a row now, but only one of those wins is coming against a guy with a winning record.

“There’s really not any added pressure to me. My past four fights have been main event fights, this is a main event fight, so the only difference is that this is a five-round fight instead of a three (round fight).”

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As for how he feels he matches up technically with Lopez, Castaneda believes himself to have the advantage in virtually all areas of the fight.

“I think I’m a lot more technical than Gustavo,” Castaneda said. “He likes to say that he’s a little bit better wrestler than I am, so I can’t wait to show him that I disagree. Boxing and Muay Thai-wise, I definitely have the advantage, and I think if you look at our past four or so fights, it shows.

“He’s very one-dimensional: he’s an aggressive wrestler and that’s it.”

Winning the inaugural Combate America’s bantamweight title would be a great way to cap off an already strong 2016 for Castaneda, but he doesn’t feel like his year is over yet.

“I don’t actually plan to cap it off with this win here,” he said. “I plan on fighting this fight and getting one more in before the year ends. I had four fights as well last year, and I won them all, and I plan to win all of them this year.

“The level of training partners, the level of coaching staff and level of facility, everything has gone up tremendously since I moved to the Academy under Greg Nelson. My game has elevated as well, and I’m nowhere near my peak. I feel myself getting better and better each fight.”

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