Combate Americas has announced that this year’s Copa Combate will take place on December 7 at the Save Mart Center in Fresno, California.
Combate Americas announced the date and venue for the Copa Combate. The event is an eight-man, one-night tournament in which the winner will walk away with a $100,000 grand prize. This year’s tournament will take place at the Save Mart Center in Fresno, California on December 7, and the participants will be from the featherweight division.
Last year’s bantamweight tournament was one of the stand-out MMA events of 2017. Tournament winner Levy Marroquin stepped in as an alternate the day before the event and punctuated his victory by upsetting the winningest fighter in the company, John Castaneda, in the final.
Several participants have already been announced. Andres “Bullet” Quintana will lead the field after going 5-0 in Combate Americas and will represent the United States. The New Mexico native recently stopped Erick Gonzalez in September to earn his berth into the tournament. Quintana is the most experienced competitor in the tournament with a record of 15-2.
Gaston “Tonga” Reyno (8-2) will represent Uruguay at the tournament. Fighting out of Alliance MMA, Reyno signed with the company earlier this year and had a successful debut in September after previously fighting in Bellator and MMA International.
Representing Mexico will be Alejandro “Gallito” Flores, who qualified for the tournament in September as well by defeating Pablo Sabori in a special five-minute single-round fight. Flores carries a record of 6-2 overall and has had an exemplary mark in Combate Americas with five consecutive victories.
Combate Americas announced another participant today as Zebenzui “El Niño Roca” Ruiz will represent Spain. The 24-year-old Ruiz will be making his promotional debut at the tournament. Ruiz has a 7-2 record fighting mostly in Spain and all but one of his victories have been by (T)KO or Submission.
Combate Americas CEO Campbell McLaren is also one of the co-creators of the UFC which is celebrating their 25th anniversary this November. McLaren recently spoke about the original UFC 1 for ESPN’s 30 for 30 Podcast and the timing of the Combate Americas’ tournament coincides closely with the anniversary of the sport in the United States. This year’s Copa Combate will also be making history as the first ever one-night eight-man tournament in the state of California.
Combate Americas will be announcing the remaining eight participants for the tournament closer to the event.
