NEW YORK - Combate Americas today announced its much-anticipated, second annual "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, Calif., live in English in the U.S. and Canada on DAZN (10 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT), 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.
 
The "COPA COMBATE" event will mark the first one-night, eight-man tournament in California state history, and will take place 25 years after Combate Americas CEO and Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) co-founder Campbell McLaren changed the combat sports world forever with UFC 1, a one-night, eight-man tournament that produced MMA’s first iconic figure, Royce Gracie.
 
Priced from $30, tickets go on sale online at www.CombateAmericas.com/Tickets and Ticketmaster.com, as well as at the Save Mart Center box office, beginning at 10 a.m. PT on Wednesday, Nov. 7.
 
"This is the way I started the UFC 25 years ago - an 8-man tournament - the toughest challenge in sports - and now it’s coming to Fresno and the great state of California for the first time in history," said McLaren.











 
(Pictured left to right above): Gaston Reyno of Montevideo, Uruguay; Andres Quintana of Roswell, N.M., USA; Alejandro Flores of Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, Mexico; and Zebenzui Ruiz of Las Palmas, Gran Canaria, Spain represent the first four of eight fighters who will compete in the 2018 "COPA COMBATE" one-night, eight-man, $100,000 grand prize featherweight MMA tournament. Photo credit: Scott Hirano/Combate Americas, LLC

The "COPA COMBATE" tournament will take place in the featherweight (145 pounds) division, and will feature the winners of September’s two ‘Copa’ qualifier bouts - Andres "The Bullet" Quintana (15-2) of Roswell, N.M., USA and Alejandro "Gallito" Flores (13-1) of Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, Mexico - as well as previously announced Gaston "Tonga" Reyno (8-2, 2 NC) of Montevideo, Uruguay.

Reyno was announced as a tournament entrant on the air live, immediately following his stunning, first-round (2:21) submission (rear-naked choke) of Carlos Ochoa at the "Combate Americas: Camino a Copa" live event in Long Beach, Calif. on September 28.
 
Also announced today for "COPA COMBATE" tournament action was the competitor who will represent Spain - 24-year-old Zebenzui "El Niño Roca" Ruiz (7-2) of Las Palmas, Gran Canaria.
 
Ruiz will enter La Jaula, the Combate Americas cage, for the first time in his career, riding a four-fight win streak. To date, all but one of his victories have come by way of (T)KO or submission.
 
The remaining four fighters who will compete in the 2018 "COPA COMBATE" tournament will be announced soon.
 
Doors at Save Mart Center will open for the event at 5 p.m. on December 7, and the first preliminary bout will begin at 6 p.m.
 
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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.