Combate Americas
Former Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) light heavyweight champion Tito Ortiz, 44, will collide with ex-World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) titleholder Alberto Del Rio, 42, in the pay-per-view (PPV) main event of Combate Americas’ Dec. 7 fight card, set for Payne Arena in Hidalgo, Texas.
The 210-pound catchweight bout will be contested using a “Winner Take All” format; meaning, if Ortiz loses, he’ll be forced to cough up one of his existing UFC championship belts. If Del Rio — now operating under the name Alberto El Patron — comes up short, then his WWE strap will be turned over to “The Huntington Beach Bad Boy.”
Not quite the champion vs. champion super fight we’ve become accustomed to, but there will certainly be a lot on the line for both combatants.
“This is a one-of-a-kind, larger than life fight– one of the greatest MMA superstars of all-time, facing off with one of professional wrestling’s most decorated champions and an accomplished MMA fighter in his own right,” said Combate Americas CEO Campbell McLaren. “On top of all that, these two legends are putting their belts where their mouths are. It’s the type of fight that comes around once or twice in a lifetime, and Combate Americas is going to deliver it to fans worldwide from the U.S.-Mexico border.”
Ortiz (20-12-1) is coming off a first-round drubbing of longtime rival, Chuck Liddell, under the now-defunct Golden Boy MMA banner last November. Prior to that, the UFC hall-of-famer shut down Chael Sonnen by way of submission in the Bellator 170 main event.
As for Patron (9-5), he’s been out of the mixed martial arts (MMA) game for nearly a decade, having not seen action since his technical knockout loss to Mamoru Yamamoto at Cage of Combat 4 in early 2010, which snapped a six-fight win streak.
Priced from $30, tickets for the Dec. 7 event go on sale this Friday (Oct. 11) at 10 a.m. CT at Ticketmaster.com.