The last time you saw Kyra Batara, the 25 year old upstart was one of the top prospects of Combate Americas, now Combate Global.  After an undefeated run in their cage and even representing the promotion during a cross-promotion event with RIZIN, the general consensus was that “Mogwai” would be going on to fight for the inaugural women’s title in late 2019.  After being front and center on television and headlining events for year, it was a surprise when the company elected to part ways with Batara who has not fought since.

Kyra Batara will bring it tonight! Are you ready? #Combate19 | TONIGHT | Main Event
📺 LIVE on Telemundo: 12 a.m. ET/11 p.m. CT pic.twitter.com/PT9mAxWQg6

— Combate Global (@combateglobal) December 1, 2017

Combate cut me and it broke my heart. Like I had been fighting with them since I was 21. I was on six win streak with them. Everything was great. So I did not understand why they would cut me, like it just made no sense. And it put me in a position where I was like, is this really what I want to do? Is it worth it? I’ve had three concussions in one year. I’m putting my body on the line for what? For people that think I’m just a dollar sign? And when they’re done with me, they’re done with me? Like, is this worth it to me? So I had to really do some soul searching. And for me, I needed the time off.

Time off for injuries is not something the Las Vegas native has shied away from.  A back injury kept her out of action between 2018 and 2019 and she exercised caution following concussions stemming from her fighting career.  That’s not to mention the added element of the coronavirus pandemic that halted most regional shows across the world.  Batara was left in the no-man’s land of up-and-coming fighters that were stranded without fights as there were fewer shows to build one’s name.

Taking a leave of absence from competition and seeking a new venture amid the changing world, Batara found an outlet in joining the growing number of public figures who made exclusive content on a fan site.  A peruse of her social media will tell you that she manages multiple sites, including one that posts mature content.  It is a path less frequently traveled, but it is one that Batara says has changed her life.

https://www.instagram.com/p/COJW4OTBA_c/

It’s like anything. If you don’t experience it for yourself, you’re not going to know, you can ask the person but everyone’s different. Everyone has different ways of how they put out their content, how they talk to people. For me personally, it was a way for me to connect with fans that I was actually getting paid to talk to them versus going through 1000s, literally 1000s, of DMS. And so not only do I get to have more intimate connections with people that are supporting me, but they get to see my life through no filter. I found a new love for my body. I’ve met the most amazing people doing this, teaching classes because I excelled so fast in it. I’ve always been a business woman first. I just took the platform as a new way to make money without having to work a nine to five which I was refusing we were in quarantine. So what else was I gonna do? And I just fell in love with it…I’ll put it this way, my ex left me and $10,000 worth of debt. I had a brand new car. I was living in a one bedroom apartment. I had $20 to my name, pre-quarantine. And this past year, I paid off my car paid off my debt. I bought a house, I bought a dog. I left my ex and I’m living alone and paying all the bills by myself.

So, how does Batara now find herself back on the big stage, with a marquee fight for the world’s second biggest promotion?  According to Batara, it was an opportunity manifested from the desires she put out into the universe.

“I ran into one of my friends that I got certified with for personal training years ago and he’s like, ‘Yo, are you fighting? I want to see you in the cage.’ And I looked at him and I go, ‘if the right opportunity presents itself off.’ And he’s like ‘No, f*** that.’ And I was like, ‘What? What do you mean?’ And he’s like, ‘No, you’re a fighter through and through. If you want to fight then tell yourself: I’m going to fucking fight.’ And the next day, I made an Instagram post, and I was like, ‘Look, guys, I’m ready. I’m gonna start fighting again.’ The next day is when I got the fight call. And I was like, what is happening? I really just spoke it into existence. And that was that that was a wrap.

As an athlete who began competing in her teens, Batara says that getting back into the grind of actually training for an MMA fight has not been difficult.  Notably, her opponent Lena Ovchynnikova is also returning from a similar layoff.  Batara recognizes that “Hunter” possesses formidable skills on the feet but questions how the former flyweight will handle the cut down to 115 pounds to make the strawweight limit.

Claudia (Gadelha) and I were talking and she’s like, ‘do you think she’s gonna make weight?’ And that’s the huge question. We’ll see. She’s training over at Jacksons right now. So she’s definitely getting her cardio in.  I think she’s got amazing striking. I just think that I’m the better MMA fighter. I think that I’m going to take her down and submit her.

Kyra Batara fights Lena Ovchynnikova at Bellator 261 on Friday June 25 at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut.

The post Bellator 261: Kyra Batara A New Person Ahead of Return Against Lena Ovchynnikova appeared first on Cageside Press.

Batara took part in the strawweight tournament at the all-women’s jiu-jitsu event. She got the better of Lauren Sears, Raquel Torres, and Gina Megui before falling to teenage sensation Trinity Pun in the tournament final.

Her first fight, against Sears, hit overtime. It’s something her father prepared her for early in life. “For me especially for the over time rounds — my dad drilled me so hard my entire career, it was like bed time stories,” she told Cageside Press following the event. “It was like ‘hey dad bye I’m going to sleep, I’m going to brush my teeth right now.’ ‘Oh you’re brushing your teeth? Cool, right after meet me on the mat,'” was her father’s response.

“Over time rounds, every single night, over time rounds, armbar, spider web and then back mount, he would just drill me, drill me. I had a sequence of like ten submissions, where we would cycle through ten submissions in a row,” she continued. “He would make me do it with my eyes closed, three times in a row, right before I go to bed. When I get into overtime I’m like, ‘I can do this in my sleep, I do this right before bed, I ain’t worried about nothing.'”

Going into the semi-finals, the plan was to “go in there with confidence. I don’t care who is in front of me I don’t care what names are signed up for this tournament, like ‘I’m here I’m Kyra “Mogwai” Batara and I’m here to make a statement.” That she did, and while she came up short in the final, the semi-final match saw her defeat Gina Megui via Americana. Three wins in a night, not too shabby for Batara.

Watch the full interview with Kyra Batara from Submissions on the Shore above!

The post Submissions on the Shone: Drills with Dad Prepared Kyra Batara for Overtime Rounds appeared first on Cageside Press.

Commerce, CA — Kyra Batara was one of the bigger names on the women’s side for Hispanic MMA outfit Combate Americas, so it was a bit of a surprise to see her released earlier this year. Now, ‘Mogwai,’ who holds an 8-4 record in the cage, is expanding her horizons. Over the weekend, she picked up the mic for LXF, which hosted LXF 3 at the Commerce Casino Ballroom.

Speaking to Cageside Press, Batara said that “I wanted to take a break from MMA. I had a concussion last year, I got released from Combate. I wanted something new. Met a guy, fell in love, went into the pro wrestling route. Had my first match, we had a tag team together. I fell in love with wrestling.”

“I still want to fight, I want to get a few more under my belt,” she admitted. She’s currently a free agent. “But tonight I had my debut making in-ring interviews, so that was exciting. I’m hoping I see a future in that.”

Batara has been in front of the camera plenty of times before, of course. “I’ve always been camera happy and love being in front of the camera and being in front of people, kind of have all lights on me,” she said. Plus, “it’s nice to not get punched in the face for once.”

However, the atomweight admitted that “it’s a different world. I’m so used to just mentally preparing in the back. I play card games with my brother in the back, I’ll watch Netflix in the back.”

“Here the whole time, I felt like I was more nervous for this than any MMA fight that I had. It’s a different world,” she reiterated, “but I feel like with 13 years under my belt with MMA experience, it came pretty natural for me.”

The post LXF 3: Kyra Batara Discusses Making the Jump from Fighting to Commentating Role, Wrestling appeared first on Cageside Press.

Las Vegas, NV — Kyra Batara has made a name for herself in Las Vegas over the years, a transplant from Oregon turning heads in the MMA hotbed. Signing a deal with Combate Americas on her 21st birthday, Batara (8-4) had a stellar run with the company, and had been expected to face Angela Magana this past April.

Instead, Magana suffered complications from surgery, slipped into a coma, and the bout with Batara was quickly forgotten. A replacement was brought in, but the bout was overshadowed by Magana’s health scare. ‘Mogwai,’ who has fought at atomweight and strawweight, then found herself without a home to fight in, as Combate cut her off a win, she told Cageside Press on Wednesday at the World MMA Awards 2019 in Las Vegas.

“It was really depressing getting cut from Combate. I went 6-0, I was with them since I was 21. I took a seven fight deal with them when I was 21, it was by 21st birthday. I was drunk on a cruise, I was like ‘yeah I’ll fight, I’ll fight.’ I ended up winning that fight, going 6-0 with them, I went all the way to Japan.” The Japan fight she speaks of came outside Combate Americas, a fight for RIZIN Fighting Federation in 2016. “Lost in Japan, but 6-0 under their banner, all Fight of the Nights, finished with an arm-bar my last fight.”

The arm-bar finish came against Magana’s replacement, Francis Hernandez, at Combate 36. It wasn’t enough to keep her in the company, however, despite the perfect record under their banner.

“They didn’t want me anymore, so I took a little break from it. I’ve been getting into pro wrestling, I have my first wrestling show this Friday here in Las Vegas.” That will come under the Future Stars of Wrestling promotion, on a card full of MMA stars. Frank Mir, Tom Lawlor, Dan Severn, and Ryan Couture are all participating. Batara will be facing UFC alum Gina Mazany.

Fear now, however. Kyra Batara is not leaving MMA behind. “Right now I’m looking towards ONE [Championship],” she said, adding that the Asian MMA promotion “is a good option for me.”

“I’m an MMA fighter, MMA is in my blood. I need to reach the top. I told my dad I’m would be number one ranked in the world one day, and that is for sure a dream that’s going to come true.” So the wrestling experiment will, it seems, be temporary.

In the meantime, Batara could be an interesting addition to ONE’s atomweight division, currently topped by champ Angela Lee.

The post With Combate Americas Behind Her, Kyra Batara Feels ONE Championship A Good Fit appeared first on Cageside Press.

Kyra Batara will remain on the card to face Francis “Hit Girl” Hernandez (3-3) in televised action. Hernandez is coming off a loss to Melissa Martinez back in September and faced current UFC flyweight contender Montana De La Rosa early in her career. Hernandez had previously been scheduled to fight on the prelim portion of the card.

Notably, Combate Americas’ CEO Campbell McLaren said at a recent press conference that the winner of Batara and Magana would face the winner of Martinez and Carolina Gallardo for the promotion’s inaugural strawweight championship later this year. It is unclear whether that is still the plan moving forward.

Additional preliminary bouts set to take place are: Nancy Nava vs. Lucero Acosta, Destiny Vasquez vs. Sidney Trillo, and Jesse Strader vs. Michael Jackson.

The card is notably dominated by women’s fights to coincide with the recent announcement of famous Mexican actress Kate Del Castillo becoming part-owner of the company. The event itself is titled Reinas, Queens in Spanish. It was also said at the press conference that the winner of the inaugural strawweight title would be awarded a crown as opposed to a traditional belt.

More information on Angela Magana can be found here.

The post Combate Americas Makes Changes to LA Card on April 26 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.

The post Combate America’s Kyra Batara Discusses Magana Incident, Move to Strawweight appeared first on Cageside Press.

Combate Americas has announced an event for April 26 at the Galen Center in Los Angeles that will see several of the top stars in the promotion compete. In the main event, strawweight powerhouse Melissa “Super Mely” Martinez takes on Caroline “Taz” Gallardo while the co-main event will feature grappling ace Kyra “Mogwai” Batara moving up to welcome UFC veteran Angela Magana to the promotion.

Outside of the headlining bouts, the promotion also announced that former Bellator champion Zoila Frausto, José “Froggy” Estrada, Erick “Ghost Pepper” Gonzalez, and Paulina “Firefox” Granados will be in action on the card.

Melissa Martinez (5-0) has torn through the competition and is referred to by Combate Americas CEO Campbell McLaren as one of the fighters that the promotion is putting their support behind. A full-time student in Mexico, Martinez has recorded finishes in four of her five victories and most recently finished Francis Hernandez with a first-round TKO in September.

Caroline Gallardo (3-2) will be making her promotional debut and is riding a three-fight win streak going into the bout. She most recently defeated Alejandra Orozco via first-round armbar in August of 2018.

Kyra Batara (6-4) will be returning to action for the first time since December of 2017 as she makes her strawweight debut. Batara is undefeated under the Combate Americas’ banner and hasn’t lost since dropping a bout in RIZIN to Kanako Murata in 2016. Batara’s success at atomweight led to talks of possibly fighting for an inaugural title at 105 pounds in Combate Americas but she will be moving up to 115 pounds for the bout in Los Angeles.

Angela Magana (11-10) will be making her promotional debut after a rough skid in both the UFC and RIZIN. Magana had been a part of The Ultimate Fighter season 20 which crowned the inaugural strawweight champion in the promotion but struggled to get a victory in the Octagon. The bout with Batara is a big opportunity to jumpstart her career as Magana is on a six-fight skid. Magana made headlines last summer after being involved in an altercation with former UFC featherweight champion Cris Cyborg.

Two strawweight bouts were also announced for the undercard as undefeated Charisa Sigala will take on with Francis “Hitgirl” Hernandez while Yasmine Jauregui will fight Daniela Espinoza.

Opponents for Frausto, Estrada, Gonzalez, and Granados will be announced in the coming weeks.

The post Combate Americas Announces Stacked Card in Los Angeles on April 26 appeared first on Cageside Press.