Combate Americas ‘Tito vs Alberto’ Recap & Highlights!

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Combate Americas ‘Tito vs Alberto: What Side Are You On?’ aired Sat. night (Dec. 7, 2019) from Payne Arena in McAllen, Texas. MMA Mania brings you a post-fight recap, results, .gifs and interviews from a big pay-per-view event!

Combate Americas “Tito vs. Alberto: What Side Are You On?” took place Saturday, Dec. 7, 2019 at Payne Arena in McAllen, Texas. In a catch weight main event at 210 lbs., former UFC Light Heavyweight champion Tito Ortiz (20-12-1) took on former AAA and WWE pro wrestling champion José Alberto Rodríguez (9-5), better known as Alberto El Patron.

It didn’t take long for Ortiz to get a takedown and wind up in immediate side control. El Patron was able to scramble to his feet when Ortiz went knee on belly looking to move to full mount, but Ortiz took him right back down to side control again and delivered his trademark jackhammer ground-and-pound. When he had sufficiently softened up his foe, Ortiz took the back and got the tap via rear-naked choke at 3:10 of the first round. Unfortunately nobody was in La Juala with a camera on Ortiz for the post-fight interview.

They were joined on the pay-per-view by “Super Mely” Melissa Martinez (6-0) vs. “Dirty Dez” Desiree Yanez (5-1) in a highly anticipated Strawweight bout with the inaugural Strawweight title on the line. Oddly enough for a world title fight it was only scheduled for three rounds.

The first round was a complete toss up. Yanez got a takedown and was on top for at least half of the round, but Martinez got back to her feet and blasted her opponent with heavy left hands for the second half, forcing Yanez to backpedal all the way until the bell.

The second round swung heavily in the favor of “Dirty Dez” as she was relentless with the takedown attempts and eventually pinned Martinez to the ground and didn’t let her back up. At one point she grabbed the left wrist to control the arm and fired unblocked jackhammer rights at Martinez, forcing her to give up her back in defense and giving Yanez the chance to find a submission — but with short time left in Round 2 she couldn’t sink one in.

The pendulum swung back in the direction of “Super Mely” for the final fame. Martinez was able to quickly recover from any takedown attempts and go for guillotine chokes when Yanez got overly aggressive trying to get it back to the ground. Martinez was able to use her strikes effectively and make Yanez pay for how tired she was going for so many single legs and judo throws. The judges were left to sort out what was an incredible close fight.

One scored it 29-27 in favor of Yanez, but two others scored it 29-28 for Martinez to keep her undefeated at 7-0 and make her the promotion’s inaugural Strawweight champion. More than anything having a battle this close begs for two more rounds to find a decisive winner. A rematch needs to happen — and soon.

Joao Camilo (6-3) took on Dani Barez (10-4) at Flyweight. Camilo was a late replacement for Joby Sanchez and looked the part. He was getting eaten up with leg kicks in round one until he got a takedown, but Barez came closer to finishing off the bottom with a guillotine attempt while Camilo did almost nothing on top but lay and pray.

In the later rounds Barez easily stuffed the takedowns and lit Camilo up with strikes, having Camilo wobbled multiple times in Round 3, dominating when he went to the ground. 29-28 Camilo, 30-27 Barez, 29-28 Barez were the scores as Barez won a surprising split decision.

It’s hard to imagine any judge found a way to give Camilo two rounds, but that’s what happened. Also on tap was a bout between Levy Marroquin (9-2) and Enrique Gonzalez (7-3) at a catch weight of 149 lbs.

Marroquin won a previous Copa Combate tournament as an alternate and his heart was on display in the fight as Gonzalez rushed him into the cage and got a takedown early. Marroquin trapped Gonzalez head for a potential guillotine, and Gonzalez got swept trying to avoid getting tapped. Marroquin didn’t just hang out on top though. He stood up and tried to leap over his opponent to land strikes. When both men finally got back to their feet Marroquin trapped the head again for a guillotine at 4:53 of Round 1.

Gaston Reyno (8-2, 2 NC) and Rey Trujillo (24-27) met at a catchweight of 150 lbs. It was a lackluster affair which saw Trujillo run out of gas and not be able to stop Reyno’s takedowns, but for his part Reyno didn’t do much damage until late in round three when he blasted away with elbows on top. He dominated to an unremarkable 30-27 X3 decision.

Rounding out the main card was a 118 lb. catchweight affair between “Sexy” Dulce Garcia (1-0) and Anali Lopez Hernandez (0-0). Hernandez proved to be no match for the boxing experience of Garcia, who hurt her opponent badly with strikes and then locked on a guillotine to submit the hapless Hernandez at 2:47 of the first round.

For complete Combate Americas results and coverage click here.