Combate Americas, LLC and Univision Communications Inc. today announced a new, five-year media rights deal between the world’s premier Hispanic Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) sports franchise and the leading Spanish-language content and media company in the U.S.
The new agreement calls for 30 live television Combate Americas events annually – a total of 150 events – over the course of the next five years, beginning on Friday, April 9. The details for the kick-off event will be announced soon.
The events will be available across Univision platforms, including on linear on Univision and TUDN, as well as via the TUDN Radio Network, TUDN.TV and the TUDN app. Additionally, fight fans will also be able to access Combate’s fight library on PrendeTV, Univision’s newly launched ad-supported streaming service featuring 100% free, premium Spanish-language content.
“This powerful broadcast partnership will establish Combate Global as the premier MMA brand on TV in North America. Univision’s power and Combate Global’s excitement will inspire passion in a new generation of fans for this sport,” said Combate Global CEO Campbell McLaren.
“When I launched the UFC,” continued McLaren, “I knew that its explosive action would capture fans’ attention, and the same is true with Combate’s style. We refer to our brand of MMA as ‘Mucha Más Acción’ – much more action!”
“We are excited to extend our relationship and look forwar to growing the Combate brand in new and innovative ways across our Univision platforms,” said Juan Carlos Rodriguez, president of Sports, Univision. “With our audience’s passion for thrilling, live action, Combate has teamed with our portfolio of soccer rights to deliver a powerful one-two punch. Combate is a fast-ascending property and we are committed to delivering more events from the premier Hispanic MMA franchise to fight fans than ever before.”
Effective immediately, Combate Americas has re-branded to Combate Global to reflect its international expansion that will include the addition of athletes from territories outside of the U.S. and Latin America, to support the company’s electrifying country vs. country style of competition, similar to that of international soccer competitions.
Combate Global concludes each calendar year with the “COPA COMBATE” – a one-night, eight-man, six-figure grand prize event, widely regarded as one of the toughest competitions in the world of MMA and combat sports.
As part of the agreement, some of the biggest North American soccer matches will serve as lead-in programming for Combate Global events. The new strategy will connect Univision’s fanáticos with the Combate Global brand and further position the MMA organization as a leading destination for Hispanic sports fans.
Combate Americas programming began airing live on Univision in 2018, bucking the trend of pay-per-view distribution in the space and making it the only MMA sports franchise to offer programming free-of-charge on a broadcast television platform on a regular basis.
With a midnight ET start time, Combate Americas live event programming has averaged over 400,000 Total Viewers 2+ in the U.S., regularly making it the highest-rated Spanish-language program on television during its time period.*
*Source: Nielsen, NPM, L+SD data
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