Combate Americas today announced its first world lightweight (155 pounds) championship bout in history – a main event showdown between undefeated phenom Rafa “Gifted” Garcia (10-0) and fellow top contender Erick “Ghost Pepper” Gonzalez (10-3) – that will headline the premier Hispanic Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) sports franchise’s return to Mexicali, B.C., Mexico on Friday, Sept. 20, live on television in the U.S. on both Univision (12 a.m. ET/PT) and TUDN (12 a.m. ET/9 p.m. PT) from Auditorio del Estado.
Priced from MX $330, tickets for the Combate Americas world championship event are on sale at CombateAmericas.com/Mexicali.
“Our first world lightweight title fight is a matchup between two of the entire sport’s most exciting and aggressive, young athletes – Rafa Garcia and Erick Gonzalez – that have earned their respective ways to the championship bout by pulverizing the competition in their division,” said Combate Americas CEO Campbell McLaren.
A protégé of MMA superstar Cub Swanson, the 24-year-old Garcia, originally from Mexicali, fights out of Swanson’s camp in Palm Springs, Calif., and has been unstoppable as a professional, thus far, reeling off all but one of his 10 victories by way of (T)KO or submission.
In his first two starts of 2019, Garcia, ranked as high as number one in the lightweight division in Mexico, was victorious over Edgar Escarrega via second round (1:07) submission (rear-naked choke) on February 8 and over veteran Estevan “El Terrible” Payan via first round (4:50) submission (rear-naked choke) on June 7, respectively.
The 27-year-old Gonzalez of Redondo Beach, Calif. is similarly in the midst of a banner year, coming off a gritty, hard-fought conquest of Won Sik Park via second round (2:25) TKO (punches) after a see-saw battle with “The Korean Gangster” for much of the Combate Americas-promoted fight leading up to the memorable finish in Los Angeles on April 26.
Gonzalez started off 2019 with a dominant, first round (3:45) TKO (ground and pound) of Alejandro “Pato” Martinez at Combate Americas in Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico on March 8.
Additional bouts for the event will be announced soon.
Doors at Auditorio del Estado will open for “Combate Baja” at 6 p.m. local time, and the first preliminary bout will begin at 7 p.m.
ABOUT COMBATE AMERICAS
Combate Americas is the premier Hispanic Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) sports franchise, rapidly becoming the number two sport after soccer, for Spanish speaking fans worldwide. The Combate Americas franchise includes live event and original shoulder programming on some of the biggest television, OTT and digital platforms in Spanish and English, including Univision and Univision Deportes Network (UDN), DAZN, ESPN, GOL, Pluto TV and Facebook Watch worldwide. The company also owns and operates a multi-platform media studio, La Jaula Studios.
Combate Americas CEO Campbell McLaren, also the co-founder/co-creator of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), has been described by New York Magazine as “the marketing genius behind the UFC,” while Yahoo Sports has said he “knows more about the sport than just about anyone in it today.” With an unprecedented and cutting edge product and a blue-chip ownership and management team, Combate Americas is poised to break new ground and bring about a new era in world championship level MMA competition.
About TUDN
TUDN is the multimedia sports division of Univision Communications Inc., the leading Hispanic media company in the U.S. Built around the flagship TUDN cable network, the nation’s No. 1 Spanish-language sports channel, TUDN reaches audiences across Univision’s television portfolio, as well as through the TUDN Radio Network, the TUDN mobile app and TUDN.com. TUDN possesses an industry-leading portfolio of live soccer rights through partnerships with 14 Liga MX clubs, the Mexican Football Federation, US Soccer, UEFA, Concacaf, Major League Soccer, Bundesliga and many more. Visit TUDN.TV for more information.
