NEW YORK – August 4, 2016 – Combate Americas, the first-ever U.S. Hispanic Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) sports franchise, today announced new main event and co-main event matchups for its 10-bout fight card that will air live on UFC FIGHT PASS® from The Exchange in Los Angeles, Calif. on Thursday, Aug. 11 at 9:30 p.m. ET/6:30 p.m. PT.
Streaking star John “Sexy Mexy” Castaneda (10-2) will step in for Erick Sanchez, who suffered a staph infection, and face off with Angel “Tito” Cruz (5-2) in the featherweight (145 pounds) main event at “Aspira A Mas Presents Combate Americas: CombateOCHO,” while four-time UFC® veteran Danny “The Gremlin” Martinez will replace a hurt (knee injury) Jonathan Martinez (19-7) in the flyweight (125 pounds) co-main event contest with Benjamin Vinson (8-3-1).
In addition, the planned women’s atomweight (105 pounds) matchup between Kyra “Mogwai” Batara (5-3) and Lisa Ellis (15-10) has been scrapped due to a hamstring injury sustained by Batara.
“We wish Erick, Jonathan and Kyra speedy and full recoveries, and have the utmost respect for John Castaneda and Danny Martinez, two ferocious warriors who did not hesitate to accept our offers to face super tough opponents in the top two fights on our card, on short notice,” said Combate Americas CEO Campbell McLaren.
The 24-year-old Castaneda of Mankato, Minn. is riding a five-fight win streak, the last three of which came inside the Combate Americas cage, or “La Jaula.”
To date, the fast-rising star who normally competes at bantamweight (135 pounds), but who began his career as a featherweight, has notched 7 of his 10 professional career wins by way of (T)KO or submission.
Martinez of Chula Vista, Calif. will see action for the first time since his unanimous decision win over Richie Vaculik at UFC 193 last November 14.
The 31-year-old finisher, originally hailing from Tempe, Ariz., has earned 14 of his 19 career victories by way of (T)KO or submission.
Tickets for “Aspira A Mas Presents Combate Americas: CombateOCHO,” priced from $40, are on sale at ItsMySeat.com as well as at The Exchange box office. UFC FIGHT PASS is available on: personal computers, Xbox 360, Xbox One, Amazon Fire TV, iPhone, iPad, Apple TV, Android, Chromecast, Samsung Smart TV, LG Smart TV, Sony TVs with Android TV and Roku devices.
Doors at the Exchange LA open for the event at 5:30 p.m. PT, and the first preliminary card bout will begin at 6 p.m. The live UFC FIGHT PASS stream will commence at 6:30 p.m.
COMBATE AMERICAS: CombateOCHO
Featherweight Main Event:
John Castaneda vs. Angel Cruz
Flyweight Co-Main Event:
Danny Ramirez vs. Benjamin Vinson
Flyweight: Heinrich Wassmer vs. Benji Gomez
Featherweight: Izic Fernandez vs. Marcos Bonilla
Flyweight: Jonathan Santa Maria vs. Albert Tapia
Featherweight: Jonathan Quiroz vs. Ryan Lilley
Lightweight: Jose Estrada vs. Christian Cardona
Lightweight: Erick Gonzalez vs. Yoandy Carrillo
Welterweight: Daniel Rodriguez vs. Hector Saldana
Welterweight: George Hernandez vs. Hakob Ter Petrosyan
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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.
About UFC®
UFC® is a premium global sports brand and the largest pay-per-view event provider in the world. Headquartered in Las Vegas with offices in London, Toronto, Sao Paulo and Singapore, UFC produces more than 40 live events annually that consistently sell out some of the most prestigious arenas around the globe. UFC programming is broadcast in over 156 countries and territories to more than 1.1 billion TV households worldwide in 29 different languages. UFC FIGHT PASS®, a digital subscription service, delivers exclusive live events, thousands of fights on-demand and original content to fans around the world. For more information, visit UFC.com and follow UFC at Facebook.com/UFC, Twitter, Snapchat and Instagram: @UFC.
