Alberto El Patron to Announce For Hispanic-Themed MMA Company

Former UFC head Campbell McLaren has launched a new Hispanic-themed MMA promotion. MMA Fighting reports that McLaren is turning his reality show Combate Americas into a monthly MMA promotion on Spanish-language cable channel NBC Universo. Jose Rodriguez — better known to wrestling fans as Alberto El Patron — will serve as an annoouncer.

The site reports that the promotion is seeking an English-language broadcast platform as well. NBC Universo puts the company in 42 million homes in the US, about the same number as AXS TV. Prelims for the events will air in Spanish on DirecTV’s OTP service Yaveo. McAllen said that the promotion will focus on Hispanic fighters and be aimed at that demographic.

“We’ve done a great first season (of the reality show), and one event in Miami,” said McLaren. “I like World Series of Fighting, but in a way, World Series of Fighting and Bellator, and a bunch of others, they are doing a version of what UFC does. I’m not doing a Spanish version, I think I’m doing a different style of fighting, emphasizing different things, with a little more variety. We’re using guys you won’t see anywhere else because we’re discovering these guys. Our weight classes are 125 to 170 pounds. Like in boxing, I’m taking speed over power in terms of exciting fights. That’s where we focus, fights with a lot of action, a lot of stand-up, and a lot of heart.”

The first event will take place on September 17th in Las Vegas. Its main event will see Ramiro Hernandez vs. Max Ceniceros in a featherweight bout. Also set for the show are J.C. Llamas vs. Ozzie Alvarez in a welterweight fight, Ricky Palacios vs. Benji Gomez in a bantamweight fight and a woman’s strawweight bout between Nicdali Rivera-Calanoc and Katy Collins.

There are plans to run a second show in October in South Florida, with a third show in November from Las Vegas.

“Predominately, but we’re not excluding anyone,” said McLaren of the fighters. “It’s probably not legal to do so anyway. But we do want the fighters to speak Spanish. You have to be bilingual. It’s America. We do want non-Hispanic fighters as well. But we’re looking for guys you haven’t seen before. There’s UFC, there’s Bellator, which is the retirement home for UFC, and World Series, which is for the guys who get expelled from UFC for bad behavior, and us.”