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COMBATE AMERICAS UNVEILS  THE LARGEST WINNER’S TROPHY IN SPORTS

By Mike Johnson on 11/16/2018 7:58 AM

COMBATE AMERICAS UNVEILS 
THE LARGEST WINNER’S TROPHY IN SPORTS, 
COMPLETES ONE-NIGHT, EIGHT-MAN TOURNAMENT FIELD 
WITH FOUR NEW FEATHERWEIGHT ENTRANTS   
WHO WILL BATTLE FOR $100,000 GRAND PRIZE
 
COMBATE AMERICAS’ BIGGEST MMA EVENT OF 2018   
“COPA COMBATE” 
MARKS FIRST ONE-NIGHT, EIGHT-MAN TOURNAMENT IN CALIFORNIA
 
LIVE ON DAZN, UNIVISION AND UNIVISION DEPORTES NETWORK
FROM SAVE MART CENTER IN FRESNO, CALIF. ON FRIDAY, DEC. 7
 
BRUNO CANNETTI (ARGENTINA), PABLO VILLASECA (CHILE), 
JOHN BEDOYA (COLOMBIA) AND MARLON GONZALES (PERU) 
COMPLETE THE “COPA COMBATE” TOURNAMENT FIELD
 

FRESNO  – November 8, 2018 – Combate Americas today unveiled at a news conference at the Mexican Consulate in Fresno, Calif., a massive winner’s cup trophy, and announced the final four featherweight (145 pounds) contestants for its much-anticipated, “COPA COMBATE,” one-night Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) tournament extravaganza featuring eight fighters, representing eight different countries, battling it out for a $100,000 grand prize, at Save Mart Center in Fresno on Friday, Dec. 7.
 
The previously announced, second annual “COPA COMBATE” event will air live in English in the U.S. and Canada on DAZN (10 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT), and live on television in Spanish in the U.S. on both Univision (12 a.m. ET/PT) and Univision Deportes Network (UDN) (12 a.m. ET/9 p.m. PT).
 
The winner of the tournament will have persevered through three fights in one night to claim the grand prize check and the trophy.
 
The “COPA COMBATE” winner’s trophy unveiled today stands over 4 and a half feet tall, and is nearly 2 feet wide at its widest point.   Custom made by U.K.-based CA Models, the makers of the Viking-style headdress that music superstar Madonna wore during her 2012 NFL SuperBowl halftime performance, the gold-colored trophy, valued at $100,000, is constructed from high-tech composite plastics used in Formula 1 racing and aerospace.
 
Announced today as the four fighters who will complete the “COPA COMBATE” one-night, eight-man tournament field were Bruno “Aquiles” Cannetti (7-5) of Buenos Aires, Argentina; Latin American MMA pioneer Pablo “El Gallo” Villaseca (13-4) of Santiago, Chile; undefeated John “Ronin” Bedoya (6-0) of Bogota, Colombia; and powerhouse Marlon “Deriko Siete”  Gonzales (13-3-2, 1 NC) of Lima, Peru.
 
Cannetti is the 29-year-old, younger brother of MMA superstar Guido “Ninja” Cannetti, and is riding a three-fight winning streak.
 

Combate Americas' La Jaula model Alyshia Barragan with the "COPA COMBATE" winner's trophy 

Villaseca is a 31-year-old, battle-tested veteran who has competed on three different continents - North America, South America and Europe – and who has earned 10 of his 13 professional victories via (T)KO or submission.
 
Bedoya was a contestant on The Ultimate Fighter: Latin America reality television series. The 27-year-old has scored three of his six professional victories by way of submission.
 
The 26-year-old Gonzales is the number one ranked featherweight fighter in Peru.  He is coming off a thunderous,  first round (3:34) TKO (punches) of Mariano Rocca on August 18.
 
The four “COPA COMBATE” tournament entrants announced today join the four previously announced entrants - Andres “The Bullet” Quintana (15-2) of Roswell, N.M., USA; Alejandro “Gallito” Flores (13-1) of Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, Mexico; Gaston “Tonga” Reyno (8-2, 2 NC) of Montevideo, Uruguay; and Zebenzui “El Niño Roca” Ruiz (7-2) of Las Palmas, Gran Canaria, Spain.
 
The official “COPA COMBATE” tournament brackets with quarterfinal stage matchups for the one-night,  eight-man tournament will be announced soon.
 
Priced from $30, tickets for “COPA COMBATE” are on sale online at CombateAmericas.com/Tickets and at Ticketmaster.com, as well as at the Save Mart Center box office. 
 
Doors at Save Mart Center will open for the event at 5 p.m. PT on December 7, and the first preliminary bout will begin at 6 p.m.
 
Combate Americas also announced today that it has partnered with Jimenez Grappling Academy, an Exeter-based non-profit organization focused on utilizing martial arts classes to create family and community-oriented programs.  As part of the local partnership, MMA superstar Julianna "The Venezuelan Vixen" Peña will join fellow Combate Americas commentator and multiple-time WWE Heavyweight Champion, Alberto El Patrón, formerly known as Alberto Del Rio, to offer an MMA seminar to Jimenez’s students on Wednesday, Dec. 5, two days before the “COPA COMBATE” affair. 
 
 
 

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ABOUT COMBATE AMERICAS
Combate Americas is the premier Hispanic Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) sports franchise, rapidly becoming the number two sport after soccer, for Spanish speaking fans worldwide.  The Combate Americas franchise includes live event and original shoulder programming on some of the biggest television, OTT and digital platforms in Spanish and English, including Univision and Univision Deportes Network (UDN), DAZN, ESPN, GOL and Facebook Watch worldwide.  The company also owns and operates a multi-platform media studio, La Jaula Studios. 
 
Combate Americas CEO Campbell McLaren, also the co-founder/co-creator of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), has been described by New York Magazine as "the marketing genius behind the UFC,” while Yahoo Sports has said he "knows more about the sport than just about anyone in it today." With an unprecedented and cutting edge product and a blue-chip ownership and management team, Combate Americas is poised to break new ground and bring about a new era in world championship level MMA competition.
 
About SMG
Founded in 1977, SMG provides management services to 243 public assembly facilities including convention and exhibition centers, arenas, stadiums, theaters, performing arts centers, equestrian facilities, science centers and a variety of other venues. With facilities across the globe, SMG manages more than 19 million square feet of exhibition space and more than 1.5 million sports and entertainment seats. As the recognized global industry leader, SMG provides venue management, sales, marketing, event booking and programming, construction and design consulting, and pre-opening services for such landmark facilities as McCormick Place & Soldier Field in Chicago, Moscone Convention Center in San Francisco, Houston’s NRG Park and the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans. SMG also offers food and beverage operations through its concessions and catering companies, currently serving more than 140 accounts worldwide. For more information visit www.smgworld.com.
 
About DAZN:
Globally, DAZN is a live and on-demand sports streaming service created by fans, for fans, that is leading the charge to provide access to sports anytime, anywhere. DAZN guarantees no long-term contract, no bundles, just one affordable price for access to all the service’s sports on connected devices including Smart TVs, smartphones, tablets, games consoles and PCs. DAZN is currently available in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Japan, Canada, Italy and now the U.S. at just $9.99 per month after a one-month free trial – where it is set to become a must-have service for fight fans, with 100+ fight nights already lined up from Matchroom Boxing, Bellator MMA, the World Boxing Super Series, Combate Americas and the newly announced Golden Boy Promotions.
 
About Univision Deportes
Univision Deportes is the multimedia sports division of Univision Communications Inc. (UCI) and includes UDN, the No. 1 Spanish-language sports network in the U.S. Univision Deportes’ portfolio of rights includes all 18 teams in Liga MX, the Mexican National Team, the U.S. Men’s & Women’s National Teams, Major League Soccer, Copa MX, Copa Centroamericana, Copa América, CONCACAF Gold Cup, CONCACAF Champions League, international friendlies, select matches from Liga de Ascenso in Mexico, Portuguese First Division, Dutch First Division, FC Barcelona TV and Bayern Munich TV, Mexico’s Campeón de Campeones and SúperCopa, and Formula 1. Univision Deportes is also the exclusive home to shows such as Premios Univision Deportes, Solo Boxeo, Zona NBA, Republica Deportiva and Contacto Deportivo, the highest-rated Spanish-language sports studio show in the U.S., and delivers comprehensive coverage across platforms on all the latest from the NBA, NFL, MLB, and world of boxing.