Combate Americas has announced their next event for Phoenix, Arizona on September 14 which will feature a bantamweight championship fight between Levy Marroquin and Jose Alday.
Combate Americas has announced their next event, taking place on September 14 in Phoenix, Arizona. The main event will feature a bantamweight championship match between the Copa Combate tournament winner Levy Saul “El Negro” Marroquin and upstart José “Pochito” Alday. The fight will crown the first champion in promotional history.
Levy Marroquin became a break-out star in the promotion last year when he won the Copa Combate one-night tournament as an alternate. Marroquin jumped from alternate to tournament competitor when two fighters were taken out of the bracket for missing weight. He then completed the upset by defeating tournament favorite John Castaneda in the finals. Marroquin is 8-2 with his most recent loss coming to featherweight standout Andres Quintana prior to winning the Copa Combate at bantamweight.
José “Pochito” Alday shocked the world when he defeated the heavily favored Castaneda in April on less than a week’s notice. Castaneda had been scheduled to fight Alday’s teammate Marc Gomez when an eye injury pulled Gomez from the fight just days out. Castaneda was the winningest fighter in Combate Americas, having reached the finals of the Copa Combate and also winning a fight (though not a contract) on Dana White’s Tuesday Night Contender Series. The unknown Alday overcame Castaneda in a three round effort in the main event of the promotion’s debut show on Univision.
It is speculated that the winner could face notable signee and former ranked UFC bantamweight Erik “Goyito” Perez. Perez recently had his Combate Americas debut in April where he won by third round knockout.
The promotion has previously attempted to put together a fight for the title in the past. Castaneda was scheduled to fight for the title in 2016 but was ineligible when he missed weight. The fight between Marroquin and Alday will crown the first champion in Combate Americas history. The promotion was founded in 2011.
Earlier this year, Combate Americas signed a new broadcast deal with Univision that expanded the audience for the company throughout the United States and Latin America. In June, the company named Jacqueline Hernandez the President. Hernandez enters the position after having previously served as CMO of NBCUniversal Hispanic Enterprises and COO of Telemundo Enterprises.
Stay tuned to Cagesidepress as more details on the fight card are announced.
