Combate Americas CEO On Putting Together Alberto El Patron vs. Tito Ortiz

In an interview with Wrestling Inc, Combate Americas CEO Campbell McLaren spoke about how the fight between Tito Ortiz and Alberto El Patron came about and the process of putting it together. Here are highlights:

On why he put Patron in a fight with Ortiz: “Alberto put himself in. He watched Combate, saw the fighting and said to himself, ‘I think I can do this.’ He had a great tradition in PRIDE. We all know his wrestling background and the pedigree, but a lot of people don’t know that he fought in PRIDE in Japan. I think he wanted to make a comeback and he was facing a time in his life where a lot of crap went wrong. He was dating a woman from WWE and they were a great couple until the sh*t hit the fan. I think Alberto was trying to figure out the next phase in his life. Tito Ortiz is a little bit like fighting Mike Tyson. He went, ‘Yeah I’ll fight Tito.’ Okay, I think we can do this.”

On a crossover between Combate and Impact Wrestling: “Oh I hope so. It’s a great promotion, I like it. In the combat sports world, there’s a pecking order with boxing up here. Then it’s the MMA guys… then in that pecking order is wrestling. Why? Wrestling requires tremendous athletic ability. Gravity is real and no one suspends gravity. So, for Hispanic fans – AAA, luchadors – everything is part of the culture so we’re very welcoming to that. God bless CM Punk. You’ve got balls as big as all outdoors, you really do. But you stunk up the room, you really did. You stunk up the room and I think part of what Alberto can do is what Brock Lesnar did and that’s show these MMA snobs that wrestling requires tremendous toughness, skill and focus. I think that’s why Alberto wants to do this. When Tito said you’re not a real fighter, it genuinely pissed him off. The question of do I want to do a cross promotion and the answer is yes. I would love to.”

On fights in Combate ending in KO: “We often say that we don’t need judges in Combate as fights usually end in the second round. I think it shows an aggressiveness to Hispanic fighters. Fighting like a Mexican means coming forward and being willing to take punches to land one. We say MMA stands for Much More Action. Our fighters are young and they’re trying to put on a show and make a name for themselves.”

On what kind of fighters he’d welcome to Combate: “If a fighter comes out for Combate and they give it their all and they’re coming forward and are very aggressive and it doesn’t go their way, I’m always going to give that guy or girl another fight.”