Combate Americas is the largest MMA promotion in Latin America, with UFC Founder Campbell McClaren and pro wrestler Alberto Del Rio at the helm.
The promotion was running events on UFC Fight Pass in 2016, but in 2017, fans can no longer expect to see live events on the streaming service.
“Oh, yeah. A big change. We didn’t announce this, but it’s not like we weren’t going to talk about this. We ended our relationship with them on the last show. This show will not be on Fight Pass, in fact we don’t have an English broadcast partner at this moment. Everybody knows there’s a lot of changes in the UFC. It’s just more business than creative, I think they’re more economics than sport. As everybody knows, they’ve got a big mortgage. Ari (Emanuel) borrowed, I dunno, $3 billion plus to buy a 4.4 billion dollar house, so they have a big mortgage. With a big mortgage comes a big vig, so they’ve got to cut back in a lot of ways. They wanted... (laughs) they wanted me to take less money and I said no (laughs). It’s pretty much as simple as that. I like being on Fight Pass, I think it’s a pretty good platform. I like that hardcore fans have a place to watch us and I’m always glad to be associated with the UFC. But the truth of the matter is my franchise is growing in value. Not exponentially, but it’s going up a lot. We have a lot of offer from folks. I’m in L.A. all next week to really talk about where we’re going to go besides Fight Pass in English. It’s a little bittersweet, and I called Lawrence Epstein and his team over there and I said “look - no hard feelings, I don’t want to renegotiate. I love the UFC, but we’re gonna leave.“ All the rights and the library, everything, it all goes back to us. The UFC tends to fight folks up, and they’re smart. So Combate is once again in control of its own destiny in terms of (broadcasting in) the English language. We’re trying to figure out, where’s a good place to go? Maybe we should go on Facebook Live, you know? Let everybody see it. I like our TV partners in Spanish, I think the commentary is great. It’s always fun to be on TV. We’ll figure out something. We’re in a really good position these days. Do I miss Fight Pass? Yeah. Do I enjoy being out and on my own? Yeah,” McClaren said to Bloody Elbow.
Although UFC Fight Pass subscribers won’t be seeing any more Combate Americas on the network, the promotion still has several major TV deals to be focusing on.
Speaking of television deals, the UFC Founder has a goal to get the promotion on television throughout the Western Hemisphere.
“Wow. I’ve been getting a lot of my wishes. I think what I would like to do is live up to my name - Combate Americas, the fighting Americas. I would like us to be on broadcast (non-cable) television in every country in the Western Hemisphere. We’re getting close, and that would be a great way to end the year. Have more people in North and South America watch us,” says McClaren.
The promotion's last event took place on May 5, they don’t have another event scheduled at this time.
