Alberto Del Rio Announced as President of MMA Company

Mixed Martial Arts company Combate Americas announced the following this morning:

WORLD WRESTLING CHAMPION AND ICON ALBERTO “EL PATR?N” JOINS COMBATE AMERICAS AS PRESIDENT

Former WWE heavyweight champion takes on new moniker “El Presidente” as well as executive role with the leading Hispanic MMA sports franchise

NEW YORK, October 11 – Combate Americas, the premier Hispanic Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) sports franchise, today announced that it has named multiple-time professional world wrestling champion and former Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) star Alberto “El Presidente” Rodriguez, formerly known as Alberto Del Rio and Alberto El Patron, as its president.

A former WWE World Heavyweight Champion, Rodriguez, the son of Lucha Libre legend Dos Caras, Sr., also competed in 14 professional MMA bouts – 2 of them under the promotion of former Japanese juggernaut PRIDE Fighting Championships – between 2001 and 2010, as Alberto “Dos Caras, Jr.” Rodriguez. He compiled an overall record of 9-5 in the sport, with 7 of his victories coming by way of submission.

In his new executive role with Combate Americas, “El Presidente” will be actively involved in all aspects of athlete relations and development, from recruitment to enhancing their showmanship skills.

“A storied fighter, with a following throughout Mexico and the U.S., Alberto brings a tremendous amount of knowledge of what it means to be in competition, coupled with an ability to communicate his passion for the sport, to his new role,” said Campbell McLaren, Combate Americas founder and CEO. “From working with Alberto in the past, we have gotten to know him very well, and are thrilled to have him on our team in an executive capacity.”

“I am excited to enter a new chapter in my career in combat sports, and to have the opportunity to spearhead the Combate Americas mission of delivering to fight fans everywhere, an authentic and first-rate Hispanic MMA product,” said Rodriguez.

Following in his father’s footsteps, Rodriguez made his professional wrestling debut in 2000, eventually signing with the WWE where he took on the “Del Rio” name and became the league’s only competitor in history to win both the “Royal Rumble” and the “Money in the Bank” ladder match in the same calendar year – 2011.

Over the course of two tenures with the WWE, Rodriguez faced and defeated a collection of top rival champions and other superstars in the sport, including fellow Mexican hero Rey Mysterio, John Cena, Dolph Ziggler and Randy Orton.

As a member of the Mexican National Greco-Roman wrestling team in the late ‘90s, Rodriguez won the Central American and Caribbean Games in his weight division three times.

Rodriguez will make his public debut as “El Presidente” this week, during the first-ever Combate Americas live event in New York on Friday, Oct. 14 at Turning Stone Resort Casino in Verona.

The seven-bout, “Combate Americas: Empire Rising” card will be headlined by the league’s first world championship showdown in history – a bantamweight (135 pounds) title fight between ferocious rising stars John “Sexy Mexy” Castaneda (11-2) of Mankato, Minn. and Gustavo Lopez (6-1) of Las Vegas, Nev. via Yakima, Wash.

ABOUT COMBATE AMERICAS
Combate Americas, LLC. is the first U.S. Hispanic Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) sports franchise in history, designed to build Latino fighting champions and serve Hispanic fans, one of the world’s most avid groups of prize fighting enthusiasts. Founded by UFC co-creator McLaren and co-owned by Creative Artist Agency (CAA), Bunim/Murray Productions, Major League Baseball Advanced Media (MLBAM) and Andurand Capital, Combate Americas’ roster includes over 40 fighters

The Combate Americas franchise includes reality TV programming, live events and mobile programming. The company’s CEO, Campbell McLaren, is universally recognized as the co-founder/co-creator of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). New York Magazine described McLaren as “the marketing genius behind the UFC” and Yahoo! Sports proclaimed that he “knows more about the sport than just about anyone in it today.”

Combate Americas live events currently air in English via UFC FIGHT PASS®, a digital subscription service which gives fans access to exclusive live UFC events and fights, exclusive live MMA and combat sports events from around the world, exclusive original and behind the scenes content and unprecedented 24-7 access to the world’s largest fight library.

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