COMBATE GLOBAL ANNOUNCES STAR-STUDDED, ALL-WOMEN’S MMA EVENT ON SATURDAY, JUNE 8, LIVE ON UNIVISION FROM MIAMI
May 29, 2024
STRAWWEIGHT MAIN EVENT:
MELISSA “MAMBA” AMAYA VS. SAMANTHA “SPICY” JEAN-FRANCOIS
ATOMWEIGHT CO-MAIN EVENT:
ANA “LA GUERRERA” PALACIOS VS. MELISSA GOMEZ
MIAMI – May 29, 2024 – COMBATE GLOBAL and TelevisaUnivision today announced an all-women’s Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) event, headlined by a strawweight (115 pounds) showdown between undefeated star Melissa “Mamba” Amaya (6-0) and battle-tested submission expert, Samantha “Spicy” Jean-Francois (8-7), live on Univision (11 p.m. ET/8 p.m. PT) from Miami on Saturday, June 8.
The upcoming live show will mark the fourth all-women’s event in COMBATE GLOBAL history.
“Our women’s division is the most exciting in the world, so we are going to showcase some of our best female talent, all on the same card, once again” said COMBATE GLOBAL CEO Campbell McLaren.
Fighting out of Spokane, Wash. and training camp Sik Jitsu, the home of MMA superstar and former world champion Julianna Peña, the 29-year-old Amaya, who originally hails from El Paso, Texas, has been tearing through the competition in COMBATE GLOBAL since making her professional debut on a 2021 promotion, despite not having any amateur competition experience.
Amaya last saw action in La Jaula on April 1, 2023, defeating Gillian Noll by way of majority decision in a bout contested at flyweight (125 pounds).
The fight against Jean-Francois marks the second time in her professional career that Amaya will compete at strawweight after a stint at flyweight.
Jean-Francois, a 37-year-old resident of Marseille, France, is the reigning strawweight champion of the French MMA promotion Hexagone. She claimed the title on March 11, 2023, by submitting Andressa Rocha with a rear-naked choke just 26 seconds before the end of the fifth and final round of their scheduled title fight.
Jean-Francois successfully defended her crown on July 28, 2023 by submitting Laura Balin with a rear-naked choke at the 4:00 mark of the second round in their championship matchup. The victory over Balin marked Jean-Francois’s fourth consecutive win, all achieved via rear-naked choke submission.
Throughout her 10-year professional career, Jean-Francois has competed globally, securing 6 of her 8 professional victories by submission.
The atomweight (105 pounds) co-main event on June 8 features world-ranked Mexican star Ana “La Guerrera” Palacios colliding with undefeated Melissa Gomez (4-0).
The 25-year-old fighter from Mexico City trains at her country’s top MMA camp, Bonebreakers. Palacios is looking to rebound from two straight losses suffered in 2023, following a streak of five consecutive victories.
Fighting out of Santiago, Chile, the 32-year-old Gomez returns to COMBATE GLOBAL for the fifth straight time, having competed here since her professional debut in 2022.
In her last effort, Gomez defeated American Katie Perez via unanimous decision on August 19, 2023.
The featured flyweight contest on the June 8 card pits undefeated, 19-year-old prospect Regina “Kill Bill” Tarin (2-0) of Mexico City against Fernanda “La Pit” Marrufo (1-1) of Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico.