It’s almost expected at this point that Angela Magana (11-10) will generate some controversy where ever she goes. That was the case in the UFC, and it likely extended her career there. Skirmishes with the likes of Cris Cyborg, her online persona, and outspoken nature have kept Magana in the spotlight when some of her more successful (in the cage) peers have struggled to capture interest. Ahead of Magana’s Combate Americas debut, not much has changed.

Earlier in the week, she posted video online showing a brief confrontation between herself and Combate Americas: Reinas opponent Kyra Batara. While it cut off a bit early, the grocery store confrontation seems par for the course. Neither Batara nor Magana were focusing on it during the event’s media day this week, however. Speaking to Cageside Press, Magana said only that “honestly I’m not really supposed to say anything.”

“The cops got called,” she admitted, but that was no doing of hers. “I didn’t call the cops, the security guard did.”

If it all feels a little similar to a prior incident with Magana, well, let’s just say that she isn’t backing down when it comes to speaking her mind. In fact, former rival Cris Cyborg is still a name she’ll freely bring up, and Magana isn’t shy about stoking to flames by continuing to refer to the women’s featherweight great as a “he.”

“That dude, Cyborg, he hit me, and you can’t assault people,” insisted Magana. “It doesn’t matter what anybody says to you. Sticks and stones may break your bones, but words will never hurt you. The fact that people get so upset, and so excited, the fact that I can elicit that emotion is incredible.”

“It’s just words. You can’t bully a fighter,” she continued. “It’s what we do. It’s not my fault, I can talk to anybody and I can say anything I want, it’s nobody’s right to put their hands on me.”

Magana’s critics like to point the the fact that she hasn’t won a fight in years, and rides into her Combate Americas debut on a six-fight losing streak, including bouts in the UFC and RIZIN. However, the strawweight made clear that quality of competition matters. “The last fight, number one woman in Japan,” she said. That would be Kanako Murata. Before that came Amanda Bobby Cooper, and Michelle Waterson, who is circling a title shot in the UFC.

Beyond that, Magana added that she was fighting “in a state that, I was very unhealthy. I had a blood disease that I just found out about. Now I get blood transfusions, and I get IVs, and I’ve treated myself.” The blood disease is something she’s spoken of before, which she has said lead to heart palpitations.

She is still able to compete, though, which brings us to her Olympic dream. “I was putting MMA on the back burner, because I’m on the national team for Freestyle wrestling, I’m a world team member. I’m going to try to qualify for the Olympics at the Pan Americans in August. That’s my main thing, is my wrestling, I want to go for the Olympics.” At 35, she knows this is her last shot at that sort of opportunity. “My main focus is wrestling. I made the national team, I made the world team last month.”

Still, when Combate Americas called, she listened. Magana was open to last minute fights while juggling wrestling. Combate offered a multi-fight deal, and were willing to work around her wrestling. She jumped at the opportunity.

Now, the plan is to get the win. “I want to get a win, obviously. And I’m going to win.” Despite that, she isn’t dwelling on her losses. “People think maybe you’re unsuccessful if you’ve had some losses in your career, but the thing is, that’s one night. I can go back home and I have my car paid off and my gym paid off and my beautiful house on the beach,” she explained.

As for her critics, “I don’t care what anybody thinks. It’s not my business.” She takes a similar approach to social media. Magana has never shied away from being outspoken, or using social media to promote herself. “What is social media for?” she questioned. “To gain attention, to take pictures of yourself, and to get people to look at you.”

#BehindTheScenes #CombateAmericas #Wardrobe #Change #MMA #YourMajesty #SuMajestad #CombateEstrellas #Mexico #TeamLaPerla #Boxing #PuertoRico #Boxeo pic.twitter.com/XNxoUlCXBt

— Angela Magana (@AngelaMagana1) April 4, 2019

In the end, she’s just using the social media machine for what it was designed for, Magana said.

The fight in front of her, however, isn’t playing out online, or in a Whole Foods. She’s got a tough opponent in Kyra Batara, but Angela Magana feels she has an edge. “I’ve been fighting since before she got her period,” she quipped. “So I’ve been fighting for a long time.” Thirteen years and counting as a pro, for Magana.

She’s also been staying active. “I’ve been competing a lot. She’s been out I think a year and a half, out of competition.” That might just give her an edge, especially combined with her wrestling.

Watch the full interview with Combate Amercias’ Angela Magana above! Combate Americas: Reinas takes place at the Galen Center in Los Angeles, CA on April 26. The event airs live on DAZN.

The post Ahead of Combate Americas Debut, Angela Magana Not Shying From Controversy, Still Pursuing Olympic Dream appeared first on Cageside Press.

Won Sik Park, a.k.a. ‘The Korean Gangster,’ returns to Combate Americas later this month, taking on Combate and BAMMA vet Erick Gonzalez. Park (14-7-1, 1NC) made his debut for the promotion in November, following a career that has taken him to the likes of M-1, DEEP, and ROAD FC. At Combate 28, he finished off José Luis Medrano with a flying knee, and will look to follow that up against Gonzalez.

So how did Park get a nickname like ‘The Korean Gangster?’ Well, in short because he looked the part. When the South Korean began training at Alliance MMA, the name came up. “When I first came to Alliance for training, in the beginning other fighters looked at me and saw all my tattoos and my sparring style,” Park recalled. His new teammates questioned whether was a Korean Gangster. Park decided to just run with it.

He really does look the part. Now, ‘The Korean Gangster’ will take on ‘Ghost Pepper,’ as Gonzalez is otherwise known. Commenting on his opponent, Park said that “his fighting style overall is very aggressive. He looks wild, and he likes to attack. And he’s very young. I feel those are this strengths.”

To combat that, Park said the plan is that “I’m going to bring my overall [game]. I’m going to bring everything to the fight.” That overall game should be enough to get him the win, he believes.

Watch the full interview with Combate Amercias’ Won Sik Park above! Combate Americas: Reinas takes place at the Galen Center in Los Angeles, CA on April 26. The event airs live on DAZN.

The post Combate Americas: Won Sik Park Explains Origin of Korean Gangster Nickname appeared first on Cageside Press.

Combate Americas atomweight Paulina Granados (4-3) returns later this month at Reinas, the promotion’s latest stop in Los Angeles. ‘Firefox’ has fought her last three bouts in the promotion. A loss to Kyra Batara snapped a two-fight winning streak last time out, at Combate’s Queen Warriors event in December 2017. Since then, she’s had a bout cancelled, which has kept her away — plus a stint on TV show Titan Games.

“Being on the Titan Games was one of the best experiences of my life,” Grandados told Cageside Press this week. The show is a sports competition reality series, a modern twist on American Gladiators. Hosted by none other than Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson. “I really felt like a star. They just gave you that star treatment. It really raised my standards as to how I get treated,” Granados said of her experience on the series.

“Combate treats me well too. I’m just really happy, really high on life right now,” she added. It’s not the first time Granados has had her profile raised outside the cage. She also took part in a voter initiative, saying “it was really cool getting my voice out there, my story, and my opinions. I’m political Polly now.”

Campbell McLaren, Combate Americas CEO, broke in to hype Granados up a little. “She’s fantastic. Paulina’s the most exciting fighter in Combate, there’s absolutely no doubt. Her fights are the ones we use in the clips over and over and again.”

“She’s cute as hell, but she’s a f*cking killer.” That’s some high praise.

Granados wasn’t expecting to be out of the cage over a year. However, multiple fights wound up falling through in 2018. “I wasn’t supposed to be out this long. I did have a fight scheduled last April, my opponent pulled out the week of the fight,” she told Cageside Press.

A second opponent then pulled out of another fight. While Granados is hoping to get at least one of those fights back, “right now I’m just going to focus on Gloria Bravo, who is coming down from 115,” she said. “[Bravo] actually got TKO’d by [Melissa Martinez]. She doesn’t really like to get kicked, so you can imagine what I’m going to do.”

Watch the full interview with Combate Amercias’ Paulina Granados above! Combate Americas: Reinas takes place at the Galen Center in Los Angeles, CA on April 26. The event airs live on DAZN.

The post Combate Americas: Paulina Granados Talks Titan Games, Voting, Rivals and More appeared first on Cageside Press.

Kyra Batara has the distinction of welcoming former UFC fighter and Ultimate Fighter alum Angela Magana to Combate Americas. Magana will enter the night on a six fight losing streak, but she does hold wins over Barb Honchak and Jessica Aguilar from her time before the UFC. Batara (7-4), however, is bound to be a heavy favorite in the fight, taking place at Combate Americas: Reinas on April 26.

When Magana is involved, there’s usually some sort of controversy, whether it’s a promotional effort or not. The fight with Batara is no different, as Magana posted a video clip to twitter showing a confrontation between the two at Whole Foods.

“No matter who they put in front of me, there’s always going to be a little scuffle going on,” Batara later told Cageside Press at the Combate Americas: Reinas media day this week. Batara has had this happen before, enough to question if she was the problem. But no, “I’m not the problem, not me,” she said with a laugh.

The good news is, “fight’s still on.” As for the confrontation, “my face still looks good,” Batara said with a smile. Mum was the word on exactly what else went down after the video cut off.

Batara’s last outing was supposed to be in Sacramento. Instead, “I ended up having a really bad back injury. There was just no way that I could have had that fight. It was a huge fight for me, it was in my Grandpa’s back yard. He’s my biggest fan. I was so excited, I had all my family that was going to go. And I just had too much to lose to lose on that fight to go in there with such a serious injury.”

Batara took some time off, a few months from her day job as well, to heal. “I really did some self discovery. I got a whole new camp, moved out, I really grew as a person and as a fighter.”

As a result, Batara has not fought since December of 2017. However, thanks to her growth both in and out of training, “you’re going to see a whole new ‘Mogwai'” at Combate Americas: Reinas later this month.

This fight, of course, will be at strawweight, and will see Batara moving up from atomweight. While she has had issues making 105lbs in the past, Batara insists that this move was her choice. “Combate was not asking me to move up in weight. They’re totally confident in me making 105.”

“There was just some incidents that happened with my last fight,” she admitted. Still, she added, “I can make 105 for sure. With this fight though — I beat all the 105’ers. Who’s going to beat me at 105? Nobody. And Lisbeth is pregnant.” That would be Lisbeth Lopez Silva, which was going to be the next big fight for Batara at atomweight.

“There’s no reason to cut weight if there’s no one to go against at 105,” Batara said with that in mind. “Put me at any weight class, I’ll fight anybody.”

Watch the full interview with Combate Amercias’ Kyra Batara above! Combate Americas: Reinas takes place at the Galen Center in Los Angeles, CA on April 26. The event airs live on DAZN.

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