POSTED BY JIM VARSALLONE, jvarsallone@miamiherald.com

OCTOBER 04, 2017 11:03 PM

Combate Americas and Telemundo Deportes announced at a news conference on Wednesday, Oct. 4 in the Wynwood district of Miami, a landmark partnership to produce the first Telemundo broadcast of a live mixed martial arts event.

COPA COMBATE is a one-night, eight-man tournament, with the winner persevering through three bouts to take home $100,000.

The event will occur on Saturday, Nov. 11 at 11:30 p.m. ET/ 8:30 p.m. PT live from Cancun, Mexico.

The historic, 90-minute live broadcast on Telemundo will coincide with the 24th anniversary of the now legendary UFC 1, which was executive produced by Ultimate Fighting Championship co-founder and Combate Americas CEO Campbell McLaren, and which was also headlined by a one-night, eight-man tournament.

“We are incredibly excited to partner with Telemundo Deportes and to bring back to life, live on Telemundo, the leading U.S. broadcast television network, the most thrilling format for competitive fighting that was responsible for changing the combat sports world forever when I introduced the UFC in 1993,” McLaren said in a release.

Ray Warren, President of Telemundo Deportes, added: “Telemundo Deportes is committed to continue expanding its portfolio of sports events, and we are thrilled to partner with Combate Americas to bring this unique MMA tournament to millions of Hispanic viewers. Copa Combate is a tournament created for our core audience featuring an exciting format and a diverse group of Hispanic competitors, and we look forward to an historic broadcast.”

COPA COMBATE will assemble a collection of the most fearsome stars in MMA’s bantamweight (135 pounds) division, hailing from the United States, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Spain, Colombia, Argentina, and Peru, and will see them battle in La Jaula, the Combate Americas competition cage, over the course of three tournament stages – quarterfinal, semifinal and championship – before the eventual winner is crowned.

The event marks the first time in history that fighters will represent their respective countries on a quest to win the inaugural ‘Copa.’

Joining the previously announced John “Sexy Mexy” Castaneda (14-2) of Mankato, Minn. in the tournament field, will be the highest ranked bantamweight fighters in their respective countries:

 Marcelo “Pitbull” Rojo (12-4) of Cordoba, Argentina

 Carlos “Lobo” Rivera (10-2) of Mexico City, Mexico

 Mikey “El Terrible” Erosa (12-5) of San Juan, Puerto Rico

 Marc “Lufo” Gomez (20-10) of Barcelona, Spain

 Andres “Doble A” Ayala (11-4) of Bogota, Colombia

 Kevin “El Frio” Moreyra (4-1) of Lima, Peru

Filling the eighth spot in the tournament field will be wild card entry, Ricky “El Gallero” Palacios (9-1) of Mission, Texas.

Palacios, a 30-year- old knockout artist, is riding a six-fight win streak, and is tied with Castaneda for the most wins – six – held under the Combate Americas promotional umbrella. In his last two starts, Palacios earned decisions over UFC veterans Roman Salazar and Chris Avila, respectively.

The eight competitors will be separated into four tournament brackets, with the top four fighters given seeded positions based on their worldwide rankings.

Quarterfinal stage opponents for the four fighters will be determined based on a lottery ball drawing that will occur on a date to be announced.

Telemundo’s live broadcast of COPA COMBATE will feature the tournament’s semifinal stage consisting of two bouts that pit the winners of the quarterfinal stage bouts in each tournament bracket against one another. The entire quarterfinal stage of the tournament will stream live on the Telemundo Deportes En Vivo app and TelemundoDeportes.com.

Telemundo Deportes, one of the leading providers of sports content in Spanish in the United States, is home to two of the world’s most popular sporting events: the FIFA World Cup through 2026 and the Summer Olympic Games through 2032. In addition, Telemundo Deportes broadcasts the FIFA World Cup CONCACAF qualifying matches for most of the region, including the Mexico and USA national teams’ away matches and the Premier League.

Telemundo Deportes is also home to “Boxeo Telemundo Ford,” the #1 boxing program in Spanish, and “Titulares y Más,” the #1 sports news, entertainment and commentary show in Spanish, among other recognized sports properties.

ABOUT COMBATE AMERICAS

Combate Americas, LLC. is the first U.S. Hispanic Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) sports franchise in history, designed to build Latino fighting champions and serve Hispanic fans, one of the world’s most avid groups of prize fighting enthusiasts. The Combate Americas franchise includes reality TV programming, live events and mobile programming.

The company’s CEO, Campbell McLaren, is universally recognized as the co-founder/co- creator of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). New York Magazine described McLaren as the marketing genius behind the UFC; and Yahoo! Sports proclaimed that he knows more about the sport than just about anyone in it today. With an unprecedented 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.