Combate Americas returns to DAZN next week with a Mexico vs. USA card, which will pit some of Mexico?s best MMA fighters against some of the best that the United States has to offer. Injuries have affected two bouts on the card, as Ivan Castillo replaces an injured Evan Solorio against Daniel Rodriguez, while Shane Keefe replaces Jimmy Molina against Albert Gonzalez.
Here is the press release issued by Combate Americas on the changes:
COMBATE AMERICAS ANNOUNCES TWO LINEUP CHANGES
TO ITS ?MEXICO VS. USA? NINE-BOUT MMA EVENT
LIVE ON UNIVISION, UDN AND DAZN
FROM FRESNO, CALIF. ON FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 22
DANIEL RODRIGUEZ (USA) FACES NEW OPPONENT IVAN CASTILLO (MEXICO) IN MAIN CARD ACTION AFTER INJURY SIDELINES EVAN SOLORIO
FRESNO?S ALBERT GONZALES TAKES ON SHANE KEEFE AFTER TRAINING INJURY FORCES JIMMY MOLINA OUT OF PRELIMINARY BOUT ACTION
PREVIOUSLY ANNOUNCED MAIN EVENT:
PABLO SABORI (MEXICO) VS. ANTHONY AVILA (USA)
LOS ANGELES ? February 15, 2019 ? 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
# # #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 and Facebook Watch worldwide. The company also owns and operates a multi-platform media studio, La Jaula Studios.
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.
About Univision Deportes
Univision Deportes is the multimedia sports division of Univision Communications Inc. (UCI) and includes UDN, the No. 1 Spanish-language sports network in the U.S. Univision Deportes? portfolio of rights includes all 18 teams in Liga MX, the Mexican National Team, the U.S. Men?s & Women?s National Teams, Major League Soccer, Copa MX, Copa Centroamericana, Copa América, CONCACAF Gold Cup, CONCACAF Champions League, international friendlies, select matches from Liga de Ascenso in Mexico, Portuguese First Division, Dutch First Division, FC Barcelona TV and Bayern Munich TV, Mexico?s Campeón de Campeones and SúperCopa, and Formula 1. Univision Deportes is also the exclusive home to shows such as Premios Univision Deportes, Solo Boxeo, Zona NBA, Republica Deportiva and Contacto Deportivo, the highest-rated Spanish-language sports studio show in the U.S., and delivers comprehensive coverage across platforms on all the latest from the NBA, NFL, MLB, and world of boxing.
About DAZN:
Globally, DAZN is a live and on-demand sports streaming service created by fans, for fans, that is leading the charge to provide access to sports anytime, anywhere. DAZN guarantees no long-term contract, no bundles, just one affordable price for access to all the service?s sports on connected devices including Smart TVs, smartphones, tablets, games consoles and PCs. DAZN is currently available in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Japan, Canada, Italy and now the U.S. at just $9.99 per month after a one-month free trial ? where it is set to become a must-have service for fight fans, with 100+ fight nights already lined up from Matchroom Boxing, Bellator MMA, the World Boxing Super Series, Combate Americas and the newly announced Golden Boy Promotions.
About SMG
Founded in 1977, SMG provides management services to 243 public assembly facilities including convention and exhibition centers, arenas, stadiums, theaters, performing arts centers, equestrian facilities, science centers and a variety of other venues. With facilities across the globe, SMG manages more than 19 million square feet of exhibition space and more than 1.5 million sports and entertainment seats. As the recognized global industry leader, SMG provides venue management, sales, marketing, event booking and programming, construction and design consulting, and pre-opening services for such landmark facilities as McCormick Place & Soldier Field in Chicago, Moscone Convention Center in San Francisco, Houston?s NRG Park and the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans. SMG also offers food and beverage operations through its concessions and catering companies, currently serving more than 140 accounts worldwide. For more information visit www.smgworld.com.