Combate Americas today announced two changes to the nine-bout lineup for it’s “Mexico vs. USA” Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) event, live on television in Spanish in the U.S. on both Univision (12 a.m. ET/PT) and UDN (12 a.m. ET/9 p.m.PT), and in English in the U.S. and Canada on DAZN (10 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT).
The event will be headlined by a previously announced, catchweight (150 pounds) showdown between Pablo “El Gallo Negro” Sabori (9-5) of San Luis Rio Colorado, Sonora, Mex. and Urijah Faber-protégé Anthony “The Shark” Avila (17-5) of Sacramento, Calif. via Lemoore, Calif.
Announced today was the replacement of injured Evan Solorio of Spokane, Wash., USA with Ivan “Choko” Castillo (17-11) in a featured, super lightweight (165 pounds) main card bout against Daniel “D-Rod” Rodriguez (7-1).
The 28-year-old Castillo of Ensenada, Baja California, Mexico is coming off a three-round, split decision victory over Richie Palomino on October 11, 2018.
An eight-year veteran of the sport, Castillo has notched 12 of his 16 professional victories to date by way of (T)KO or submission.
The 32-year-old Rodriguez of Alhambra, Calif. is seeking his fourth consecutive conquest after earning three straight finishes in 2018, the last of which came in the form of a third round (2:41) TKO (punches) of Ozzie Alvarez at “Combate Americas: Camino a Copa Combate” last September 28.
In the other lineup change announced today, Fresno upstart Albert “Big Al” Gonzales (0-1), originally slated to face off with Jimmy “Funky Cold” Medina (0-0), will now do battle with AKA team member “Shuga” Shane Keefe (0-0) of San Jose, Calif.
Priced from $25, tickets for “Combate Americas: Mexico vs. USA” are on sale online at CombateAmericas.com/Fresno and Ticketmaster.com, as well as at the Save Mart Center box office.
Doors at Save Mart Center will open for “Combate Americas: Mexico vs. USA” at 6 p.m. local time, and the first preliminary bout will begin at 7 p.m.
Combate Americas’ return to Fresno takes place just over two months after the premier media and sports franchise brought its biggest event of the year – the one-night, eight-man, $100,000 grand prize “COPA COMBATE” featherweight (145 pounds) tournament – to Save Mart Center.
Despite its midnight ET start time, the 2018 “COPA COMBATE” event garnered over 4.3 million live television viewers across the U.S. (Univision and UDN) and Mexico (Azteca 7). An additional 1.5 million viewers tuned into the live Facebook Watch stream of the “COPA COMBATE” preliminary bout card.
COMBATE AMERICAS “MEXICO VS. USA” FIGHT CARD
CATCHWEIGHT (150 POUNDS) MAIN EVENT:
Pablo Sabori vs. Anthony Avila
FLYWEIGHT CO-MAIN EVENT:
Zoila Frausto vs. Jaimee Nievera
FEATURED SUPER LIGHTWEIGHT MAIN CARD BOUT:
Daniel Rodriguez vs. Ivan Castillo
PRELIMINARY BOUT CARD:
Strawweight: Sheila Padilla vs. Charisa Sigala
Bantamweight: Hector Fajardo vs. Jose Avalos
Featherweight: Emilio Horta vs. Steven Bollinger
Lightweight: Adrian Guzman vs. Ryan Reneau
Bantamweight: Mark Climaco vs. Ricardo Vasquez
Welterweight: Albert Gonzales vs. Shane Keefe
