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A drove of Hollywood and sports entertainment icons, including Kate Del Castillo and Sin Cara, came out in full force for Combate Americas’ highly-anticipated ‘Tito vs. Alberto – What Side Are You On?’ live televised Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) extravaganza in McAllen, Texas, next to the U.S.-Mexico border, on Saturday, Dec. 7, while an assembly of others, including none other than President Donald Trump, voiced their support on social media for main event superstars Tito Ortiz and Alberto “El Patrón” Rodriguez, respectively.
“It was an epic night that surpassed our expectations, and the proudest I have ever been of this company,” said Combate Americas CEO Campbell McLaren.
The roaring crowd of nearly 7,000 at Payne Arena was also joined by Roc Nation hit recording artist Victoria La Mala, who sang both the U.S. and Mexico national anthems, as well as the UFC’s recently crowned “BMF” champion Jorge “Gamebred” Masvidal, who made his debut as a color commentator on both the live pay-per-view broadcast in the U.S. and on Televisa Canal 5’s coverage of the show in Mexico.
Other familiar faces in attendance at the star-studded, 10-bout event included professional wrestling superstar Chavo Guerrero, Jr., MMA superstars Julianna “The Venezuelan Vixen” Pena and Leslie “The Peacemaker” Smith, former Lucha Underground star turned Combate Americas MMA upstart Melissa “Thunder Rosa” Cervantes; and former WWE Tough Enough competitor, Ivelisse Velez.
President Trump’s congratulatory Tweet on Saturday to main event winner Tito Ortiz was preceded by a monsoon of support on social media from a number of public figures and organizations, including the president’s son, Eric Trump; United Service Organizations (USO); WWE superstar Rey Mysterio; and seven-division world boxing champion and Combate Americas star Amanda “The Real Deal” Serrano.
In the 210-pound catchweight main event, UFC Hall of Famer and former World Light Heavyweight champion Ortiz (21-12-1) of Huntington Beach, Calif. submitted multiple-time WWE Heavyweight Champion and former PRIDE competitor Rodriguez (9-6) (formerly “Alberto Del Rio” of the WWE) of San Antonio, Texas by way of San Luis Potosi, SLP, Mexico via first round (3:10) with a rear-naked choke.
Combate Americas also crowned its first women’s world champion in history after undefeated Melissa “Super Mely” Martinez (7-0) of Mexico City, Mex. was awarded a split decision in the co-main event over rival star Desiree “Dirty Dez” Yanez (5-2) of Waco, Texas in what was, by far, Martinez’s toughest test to date.
Priced at $29.99, last Saturday’s Combate Americas ‘Tito vs. Alberto – What Side Are You On?’ extravaganza is still available on pay-per-view television, in every home in the U.S., on cable television on inDemand (Comcast, Charter and COX) and U-Verse, and satellite providers DIRECTV and DISH. In Canada, the program is available on Shaw, Bell TV, SaskTel and Rogers.
The live, Televisa Canal 5 broadcast in Mexico covered the main event between Ortiz and Rodriguez as well as the women’s world championship co-main event.
The pay-per-view event is still also available globally online, OTT and via the FITE TV app, as well as on Playstation.
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. This event was not sponsored or affiliated with WWE or UFC.
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.
