Combate Americas has completed a new English broadcast deal with DAZN and will kick off the partnership with Alday vs. Lopez tonight.
Combate Americas will be joining Bellator in providing MMA content on the DAZN app. The company announced that they have signed a multi-year broadcast deal with the DAZN and will be providing 13 fight nights per year. Their deal will begin with their event tonight with Alday vs Lopez for the inaugural bantamweight championship.
Combate Americas joins several combat sports promotions to join the new app. Per a Combate Americas press release, “Following the announcement of deals across Matchroom Boxing, Bellator MMA, and the World Boxing Super Series, the Combate Americas deal puts the number of fight nights per year on DAZN at 80+.”
DAZN launched earlier this week in the U.S., going live September 10 and already has several notable combat sports events set to air. Alday vs Lopez will be the first MMA event to air on the app. Later this month, the app will air Bellator 205 with the fight between AJ McKee and John Macapa as well as Bellator 206 featuring the mega fight between middleweight champion Gegard Mousasi and welterweight champion Rory MacDonald. The app will also broadcast the boxing match between heavyweight dynamo Anthony Joshua and Alexander Povetkin on September 22.
The broadcast team for Combate Americas will feature returning broadcasters Gilbert “El Nino” Melendez and Julianna “The Venezuelan Vixen” Peña. Both Melendez and Peña are still signed as fighters in the UFC, but have served as commentators for Combate Americas in the past. They will be joined by Max Bretos who has been on ESPN2 and ESPN Deportes and currently serves as the play-by-play broadcaster on YouTubeTV for LAFC. Bretos was also previously featured on MMA Live on ESPN.
Combate Americas previously aired in English on UFC Fight Pass and last year aired their Copa Combate tournament on the NBC Sports Network. The company has not had an English broadcast this year. Their Spanish broadcast has done extremely well since signing a new broadcast deal with Univision this year.
Tonight’s event, Alday vs Lopez, will be simulcast in English on the DAZN app and in Spanish on both Univision and Univision Deportes.
