After making one successful defense of his title, Arce drew a big-money fight in Tijuana against three-time former champion Michael Carbajal on July 31, 1999.
After a four-month layoff, Arce returned to the ring and won a WBO regional belt as he scored 7 consecutive wins while working his way back up the rankings for another title shot.
Nine months later, he beat Yo-Sam Choi, the reigning Lineal and WBC light flyweight champion who had been out with an injury, to take full distinction.
On April 24, 2004, Arce successfully defended his title in a rematch against former champ Melchor Cob Castro in Tuxtla Gutiérrez, Chiapas.
Arce moved on to defend his title for a seventh time on December 18, defeating Juan Centeno by a third-round TKO.
He later relinquished his light flyweight crown and was matched by the WBC with Angel Priolo on July 30 for their interim title after Wonjongkam suffered an injury.
On April 14, 2007, he lost a 12-round unanimous decision to WBC Super Flyweight Champion Cristian Mijares in San Antonio, Texas.
With a sold-out crowd of 18,000 fans cheering him on, Arce had to dig deep and work hard to pull past the once-beaten Lookmahanak, who turned out to be a very game southpaw and rarely took a step back.
Arce moves on to a rematch with Cristian Mijares, who earlier captured the WBA's version of the title with a points win over Alexander Muñoz.
Arce blasted former champion Isidro García, on November 1, 2008, via (48 seconds of the) 4th round technical knockout for a super flyweight belt.
Arce fought Simphiwe Nongqayi on September 15, 2009 for the IBF Super Flyweight title which was recently vacated by Darchinyan.
Arce defeated Indonesian Angky Angkota on January 30, 2010, winning the vacant WBO Super Flyweight title.
On April 24, 2010, Arce jumped to the bantamweight division to fight fellow Mexican Cecilio Santos (24–13–3; 14 KO) at the Centro de Usos Multiples in Ciudad Obregón, Sonora, Mexico.
Arce was scheduled to fight Eric Morel (42–2; 21 KO) of Puerto Rico on June 26, 2010 at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas, United States with the Interim WBO Bantamweight title at stake.
In his next fight, on July 31, 2010, Arce took on fellow Mexican and former champion Martín "El Gallo" Castillo at the Palenque de la Feria in Tepic, Nayarit, Mexico.
On May 7, 2011,[5] as a heavy underdog, he beat a then undefeated WBO Super Bantamweight Champion, Wilfredo Vazquez, Jr. of Puerto Rico by twelfth-round technical knockout.
After scoring three consecutive wins, he challenged WBC World Featherweight champion Jhonny Gonzalez, however, he was defeated by 11th round TKO.